



i w 














































































Bob Rutherford and his Wife 


AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. 


/ 

BY EDWIN F. MOODY, 

» * 7 

MERIDIAN, MISS. 






PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 

By John P. Morton & Company, Louisville, Ky. 
1888 




Entered according to Act ok Congress, in the Year 1887, 

By EDWIN F. MOODY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


pctoratioit 


This book is Dedicated to the Memory of my Kinsman, 

(£ol. James jfannin, 

AND HIS NOBLE COMPATRIOTS, WHOSE BLOOD DEEP SET THE ROOTS OF 
THE GREAT TREE OF TEXAN LIBERTY, THAT HAS SPREAD ITS 
BRANCHES OVER THE VAST DOMAIN UNTIL MORE THAN 
A MILLION OF FREEMEN NOW FIND SAFETY AND 


REPOSE BENEATH ITS BENIGNANT SHADE. 
































t 



















J 


\ 


Bob Rutherford and his Wife. 


CHAPTER I. 

In the summer of 1835, in an elegantly furnished room 
of one of the principal hotels in the city of Vicksburg, Mis- 
sissippi, a young man not exceeding twenty- five years of age 
sat smoking a cigar, while near him, reclining on the arm of 
a rocking-chair, stood a tall, graceful woman with her eyes 
beaming upon him, and cheeks flushed with the most intense 
feeling. 

Through the vapory smoke that curled from the end of his 
cigar, and wreathed his face in an amber cloud, might be 
traced a kind of restlessness and uneasiness that portended 
some mental anxiety which he fain would conceal from his 
fair companion. 

But, with that intuition which is born of a loving heart, it 
was too evident that she had fathomed that deep disquietude 
which he would hide from her. 

A low rap at the door broke the ominous silence, and re- 
moving the cigar from his mouth, he arose, and in a rather 
faltering voice bade the party enter. 

A tall, raw-boned man, perhaps forty years of age, with 
grizzled locks, and a face upon which hard usage had seemed 

2 


6 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


to stamp itself, giving it a premature expression, opened the 
door, and entering, closed it after him. 

“Tom! is Dr. Bodley dead?” the woman exclaimed, before 
her companion could address the man who had entered the 
room. 

“ He is,” he said, “ and the town is perfectly wild. I hear 
that the citizens are forming themselves into a vigilance com- 
mittee, and I should not be surprised if there was some des- 
perate work done before morning.” 

Walking to an armoire, the young man took from a shelf 
two dueling pistols and a long, keen, bright-bladed knife, all 
of which he buckled around him, and advanced toward the 
door. 

In the mean time the young woman had taken hold of the 
knob, and as her companion moved toward it she said in 
rather a suppressed tone, “ Bob, you will not surely go on the 
street to-night.” 

Taking her hand gently from the door knob, and pressing 
it tenderly in his own, he said, “Only for a short time, my 
darling,” and bending over her, imprinted a kiss upon her 
fair brow; and turning to the man who had just entered, 
remarked, “Tom, you will remain with Kate until I return, 
which shall be in less than an hour.” 

Bending her head low upon her breast, the woman moved 
aside, and her companion passed into the hall and from 
thence into the street. 

The night was dark, but from the lights that streamed from 
the windows and doors of the hotel, and from the saloons far 
up the street, a. restless crowd gathering in knots here and 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 7 

there, and filling the sidewalks, plainly indicated that the city 
of Vicksburg was red hot with excitement. 

Avoiding the throng, Bob Rutherford turned up a side 
street and disappeared in the darkness of the night. 

The uproar on the street, which for a time had been rather 
repressed, now seemed to break forth more violently, and 
a tall man, who for a short time had been haranguing the 
crowd, exclaimed, “ Fellow-citizens, is there no redress for 
these outrages which daily occur in our midst ? Are our cit- 
izens to be shot down in our streets in cold blood, and the 
perpetrators of the deed to go unpunished? Are we to be 
forever ruled by men who give protection to those assassins 
who stalk abroad in our midst with red hands, making our 
wives widows and our children orphans? Forbid it, Al- 
mighty God!” and dismounting from a box on which he 
stood, a voice from the midst exclaimed, “ To the Casino !” 
and the speaker, who had just stepped from the position 
where he had been addressing the crowd, led the way, and 
the men followed their leader into the darkness of a night 
that is still remembered by scores — yea, hundreds — though 
many years have elapsed since that vigilance committee 
avenged themselves of the daring crimes which those lawless 
men had perpetrated against the sanctity of the law and the 
good order of society. 

Bob Rutherford, after leaving his wife with his friend Tom 
Johnson, walked rapidly up the street, and entering a hall, 
with several quick strides bounded up a flight of stairs, and 
knocking twice at a door which was at once opened, he 
entered a room in which were congregated perhaps a dozen 


8 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


men who had been engaged in a game of faro, but now 
stood around the table talking in an undertone as Rutherford 
entered. 

“What is the news, Bob?” asked a young man, approach- 
ing and laying his hand upon his shoulder. “ I understand 
there is a great stir on the street since it has been made known 
that Dr. Bodley has died of his wounds.” 

Before he could answer, the vigilance committee was inside 
the door at the bottom of the steps. As the crowd began to 
fill the hall, a woman with a cloak wrapped around her, and 
with her dark hair streaming from her shoulders, dashed up 
the stairs, and rushing into the room, seized Bob Rutherford 
by the arm, and turning and facing the vigilance committee, 
who had filled the hallway, she grasped from her husband’s 
belt the keen, glittering blade, and brandishing it above her 
head, cried, “Stand back!” and as the knife flashed in the 
wavering light of the chandelier that hung in the hall, the 
men gave way, and she quickly passed along and out into 
the darkness. 

Soon after Bob Rutherford left his young wife in the com- 
pany of his tried friend, Tom Johnson, the latter turned to her 
and said, “ Mrs. Kate, I am afraid we shall have wild work in 
the city to-night, and I think I had better leave you and get 
my boat in readiness to convey you and Bob down the river, 
should the excitement continue and a vigilance committee be 
organized. If it is, you may depend there will be a hot 
time, and it will be safer for Bob to leave the city. You will 
remember where my boat is tied up. It is at the little wil- 
low, only a short distance below the oak under which we sat 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


9 


and chatted this evening. Bob will not surely remain out 
long, and when he comes tell him I will be at the boat wait- 
ing for you.” 

After closing the door he opened it again and said impress- 
ively, “Tell Bob to come right along.” 

Going to the window which overlooked the gathering 
crowd as it was being stirred up by its leader, she heard the 
voice cry out, “ To the Casino !” and knowing that her hus- 
band had gone to warn his friends of the impending danger, 
she flew to the armoire, and throwing her mantle across her 
shoulders, rushed along the street as the vigilance entered 
the hall, and with that heroism born of a woman’s love for 
her husband she pushed in, and before the men could recover 
from the consternation produced by the glitter of the knife in 
the hands of a seemingly timid girl who had been aroused 
to the desperation, the two had disappeared in the darkness. 

But the turbulent crowd moved on, and seizing the terrified 
inmates of the Casino, dragged them forth into the street, and 
they too disappeared into the darkness of the night. When 
the sun arose the next morning the bodies of five men were 
seen dangling in the air. In the bosom of one of these unfor- 
tunate victims a large solitaire diamond flashed in the morn- 
ing sunlight, as if in horrid mockery of the ghastly spectacle 
which presented itself. 

As Bob Rutherford, clinging to his wife’s arm, bewildered 
and half crazed with emotion, passed down the street, they 
met a man staggering along and covered with blood. 

“ Help me!” he exclaimed, as Bob and his wife were hur- 
rying past. 


IO 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


“ Heavens ! Bob,” said his wife, “ it is Leroy Mattingly,” 
recognizing the voice in the plaintive cry for help. 

Realizing the fact that a delay was dangerous, for the sound 
of many voices was heard far up the street, Bob let go his 
wife’s arm, which until now he had clung to, and seizing that 
of Mattingly he dragged him down the hill in the direction of 
the place where Tom Johnson had his boat moored. 

They had proceeded but a short distance before Mattingly 
said, “ My God ! Bob, I am fainting ; lay me down !” and 
like a helpless child the strong man sank to the ground. 

Bending over him, the wife of Rutherford held a bottle of 
salts which she carried in her pocket to his nostrils, and the 
man seemed to revive. As the two bent over the prostrate 
form of the dying man, a dark form came stealthily from 
around the corner, but halted a few feet off, hesitating to 
advance. It was Tom Johnson, and seeing the form of a 
female he came up astonished to find his friends in such a 
dilemma. 

In the mean time the noise was increasing, for the vigilance 
had dragged the gamblers from their retreat, and were now 
hurrying them down the street in the direction of the little 
party gathered on the sidewalk beside the wounded man. 
Taking him 'tenderly by each arm, Rutherford and Johnson 
raised the prostrate form of Mattingly, who groaned in deep 
pain as they moved slowly down the street. Fortunately they 
met only one man, who hurried past without noticing them. 

Once on the bank of the river, they placed Mattingly on 
the ground, and the wife of Rutherford began to bathe his 
head as it rested on the arm of her husband. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


II 


“ Hurry up, Tom, and bring the boat,” said Rutherford, as 
Johnson turned away and disappeared. The blood from the 
bullet wound in the breast of Mattingly slowly oozed, which 
Rutherford’s wife attempted to staunch with a cambric hand- 
kerchief, dyeing the tips of her beautiful fingers with the 
crimson current of a life which was but too surely ebbing 
away. 

Unloosing the boat from its mooring, Tom Johnson dipped 
the oars into the swift current, and slowly ascended the river 
to where the two men and the woman were left. Rounding a 
bend, the boat shot into a little cove caused by the caving of 
the bank, and, hauling it up on the shore, Johnson with the 
assistance of Rutherford and his wife placed the wounded 
man in the bottom, and with his head reclining on the arm of 
his friend it was shoved off and floated silently down “ the 
great Father of Waters.” 

Johnson sat in the stern of the boat, more as a steersman 
than to hasten its motion, and as they drifted in the darkness 
they could see from the glimmer of the lights in the city that 
the Angel of Peace had quietly withdrawn, that the great 
Avenger of the murder and assassination might bare his arm 
for the protection of peace and good order among its citizens. 
And well did he vindicate the majesty of the -law that had 
been trampled upon and spit upon by men who had bade it 
defiance, and with a strong arm had turned the quiet of this 
city of the hills into a hell and filled it with rapine and mur- 
der. But the day of vengeance had come, and the law- 
abiding citizens, seeing that justice had been made a mockery 
in her own temple, had determined to crush out this monster 


12 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


with a strong arm ; and forming themselves into a vigilance 
committee, they sought the perpetrators of these damning 
deeds and swung them to a gibbet, where they still hung, as 
an example to evil-doers and to the violators of the law. 

The boat that held the three men and the wife of Ruther- 
ford floated slowly down the river. The splashing of the 
waves against the side of the boat and the occasional groans 
of the dying man alone broke the painful silence. It was a 
dark night. The heavens were filled with floating clouds that 
obscured the rays of the moon, which anon would break forth 
as the drifting clouds parted for a moment, but soon gathered 
again, leaving the darkness more palpable. 

It now became apparent to Rutherford, who supported the 
head of the wounded man, that he could not last much longer. 
Faintly calling the names of his mother and sister, his mind 
seemed to wander to the home of his childhood; but his 
pulse which his friend held feebly flickered for a moment, the 
head sank back, and in the midst of the darkness the soul 
took its everlasting flight. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


*3 


CHAPTER II. 

The wife of Rutherford until now had been nerved up by 
the passing events, but when her husband informed them that 
Mattingly was dead she swooned, and would have fallen into 
the river had not Johnson, who was sitting near her, caught 
her by the arm. Laying the dead man in the bottom of the 
boat, he raised the head of his wife and bathed her temples 
with the water which he scooped up in his hands. It seemed 
to revive her, and throwing her arms around the neck of her 
husband she wept bitterly. 

Johnson now moved his seat to the middle of the boat, and 
taking an oar in each hand, and bending upon them, they cut 
deep into the water, and the boat shot' rapidly forward. In 
an hour they had swung around the island below Delta, and 
the lights from the city of Vicksburg, that had not until now 
been lost sight of, vanished from their sight. Would to God 
that the scenes of that night could be blotted out from the 
book of remembrance of Rutherford and his devoted wife. 
But such sights can not be so easily effaced. They remain 
indelibly stamped, and come up in panoramic view, chasing 
each other like a phantom or like an ignis fatuus, now here, 
now there, only lost sight of for the moment, that they may 
appear again in the horrid darkness in which the soul is for- 
ever steeped. 

Ten miles below the city of Vicksburg is a landing known 
as Davis’ Bend ; out from the river, perhaps a mile, was a 


14 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

house built with two rooms, and back of one of these a shed 
room. This was the home of Tom Johnson, and thither Ruth- 
erford and his wife were carried in a wagon drawn by two 
mules, with a negro as driver. 

The corpse of Mattingly was conveyed to a house which 
stood upon the bank of the river, and was there placed in a 
rough pine coffin. The next morning Johnson and Ruther- 
ford came with a wagon, and with the assistance of two other 
men the coffin was placed in it, and riding about a mile into 
the forest they arrived at a spot where there were several 
graves, near which was the newly made grave prepared for 
the unfortunate Mattingly. Without any ceremony, and with 
scarcely a word uttered, the men lowered the coffin into its 
resting place and shoveled the dirt upon it. Taking a cypress 
shingle from the wagon, Rutherford wrote on it, “ Leroy Mat- 
tingly, Lexington, Kentucky,” and sticking it at the head of 
the mound, turned away, and the gambler was left in the deep 
solitudes of the great valley of the Mississippi, there to remain 
until the judgment of the great day, when all earth shall be 
called up to the judgment bar, there to give an account of 
the deeds done in the body. 

That day and night the wife of Rutherford was prostrated 
from nervousness, and it was only after administering to her 
at least two thirds of a grain of opium that she slept. Her 
husband bent over her, watching her heavy breathing and 
holding her pulse, which occasionally lightly flickered from 
the effects of the opiate, and then beat violently again. To- 
ward morning she seemed to rest more quietly, and Ruther- 
laid down beside her and slept. Tom Johnson, about an hour 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 5 * 

by sun, looked in upon them, and as they still slept he quietly 
withdrew. A short time thereafter Rutherford awoke and 
looked down upon the pale features of his wife, still compos- 
ed in blissful slumber, and the strong minded man wept as 
he had not since he was a child. “Oh! thou Angel of Light!” 
he said, “who hast brought me safely through all these perils, 
how can I ever recompense thee for thy deep, fervent devo- 
tion ! ” and the tears slowly trickled down his pale cheek and 
fell upon the brow of his wife. They were as the balm of 
Gilead to his troubled and tempest-tossed soul, and his over- 
burthened heart seemed to feel a relief from them. The fall- 
ing tear aroused the sleeping wife, and she turned and raising 
her eyes to the face of her husband gently placed her head 
upon his arm, and the two mingled their tears together. 

The next morning a steamer was to pass down the river, 
and Rutherford and his wife went out to the landing. Tom 
Johnson that day went into Vicksburg and brought away the 
two trunks already packed by his companions and guests. 
That evening the steamer arrived, and Rutherford and his 
wife, after an agonizing farewell with Tom Johnson, proceeded 
on board, and were soon hastening away from the scenes of 
their many troubles and afflictions. If ever a woman proved 
true to her marriage vows, the wife of Rutherford certainly 
did. 

It was a sad day to Mr. Cross, a widower, when Kate, his 
only daughter, ran away with Bob Rutherford and was mar- 
ried. Though born in the same Kentucky village, and half 
cousins on their mothers’ side, it was well known that Bob 
was a sporting man, hence the deep, inexpressible grief of the 


1 6 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

parent. Leroy Mattingly had always been a boon companion 
of Rutherford, and Tom Johnson for many years had been the 
close neighbor of his father, and, though a bachelor, had a 
very great fondness for “Rollicking Bob,” as he used to call 
him. 

Several years previous to the incident just mentioned he 
had moved to Mississippi and purchased a farm near Davis’ 
Bend, where he had removed Bob and his wife on that event- 
ful night when the vigilance swooped down upon the Casino 
and hung the gamblers that had kept Vicksburg stirred up 
with the most intense commotion for more than a year, bid- 
ing defiance to the authorities and shooting down several citi- 
zens in cold blood. Rutherford and his wife, after their mar- 
riage, came down the river on a steamer in the company of 
Mattingly, and the two men had been frequent inmates of the 
Casino, where they had many friends. For several days 
before these outrages had culminated in the formation of a 
vigilance committee a protracted tumult had filled the town, 
and dark rumors and terrible threats were made against these 
violators of the law. Tom Johnson, who had been in the 
town for several days, and apprehending danger to Bob and 
his wife, had remained, after a close conversation with the two, 
trying to persuade Bob to leave with his wife and go down to 
the farm until the confusion had been allayed. His wife had 
packed her trunks at the hotel the evening that Tom John- 
son came to their room, and thought of leaving the next morn- 
ing. Leroy Mattingly had also been warned, and would have 
accompanied them. That evening, in the company of two of 
his sporting friends, he had visited a saloon where a party of 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 7 

vigilance came upon them, and demanding a surrender, lights 
were extinguished, and several shots fired, one of which had 
wounded Mattingly. In the darkness he had made his escape 
and was staggering down the street, when he had accosted 
Bob and his wife on their flight from the Casino. 

The steamer bearing Rutherford and his companion the 
next evening landed at Natchez, when the two disembarked. 
The quiet portion of the town, known as Natchez under the 
hill, with its flower gardens and business houses is quite dif- 
ferent from what it was when Rutherford and his wife landed 
on its shores more than fifty years ago. It was then known 
as a gambling hell, and many were the dark deeds that made 
the night hideous “and the cheek of darkness grow pale.” 
It was not the intention of Rutherford to remain here long. 
A man of many noble and generous impulses, he had deter- 
mined to change the life he had been leading and settle down 
to some business where he could earn an honest living for 
himself and his devoted wife. It is said that we are the 
creatures of destiny, and that, do as we may, we are still led 
by an irresistible power that impels us, and that we are unable 
to resist. Be that as it may, it would seem that the stopping 
of Rutherford and his wife at Natchez had changed the reso- 
lution of the former and opened to him a career, and it is 
hoped of usefulness — that the future alone could disclose. 

The next morning, while standing in the office of the hotel, 
a tall man with a pale countenance, and an arm in a sling, 
walked up, and a gentleman introduced Rutherford to Col. 
Bowie, the inventor of the celebrated bowie-knife, and which 
was called after him. Col. Bowie was still suffering from the 


1 8 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

wounds he had received in one of the most remarkable duels 
ever fought, the weapons used being the celebrated knife of 
the inventor, and the parties, four on each side, all of whom 
were killed or died of their wounds but Bowie. It was sup- 
posed that he was mortally wounded, having received several 
dangerous cuts, but after a few months of suffering he had 
slowly recovered, and was just able to go about when he was 
introduced to Rutherford. If ever there was a man that 
seemed to attract another to himself, that man was Colonel 
Bowie. The moment that Rutherford’s hand was clasped in 
his, and he had looked into his large gray eyes, a mesmeric 
influence seemed to attract him. The liking was evidently 
reciprocal, and the two men, walking out on the balcony, 
seated themselves, and Rutherford narrated to him the inci- 
dents of the last few days. Col. Bowie was making prep- 
arations to go out to Texas, and invited Rutherford to 
accompany him. 

“ But my wife I” said Rutherford ; “ I can not leave her.” 

“ Take her along,” said Col. Bowie. 

That night Rutherford told his wife of his plans, remarking 
that perhaps it would be better to leave her for a short time 
in New Orleans, where they expected to go the next day. But 
his wife would not consent to being left, and he concluded to 
take her with him. 

For better or for worse, in sickness or in health, forsaking 
all others, the girl who had left her home and kindred for the 
man she loved had determined to remain by his side until 
death should them part. How strong, how true, how fervent 
is the love of woman! Unlike man’s, it shines forth in its 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 9 

purity, a gem of priceless value, a pearl of price, fadeless and 
enduring as eternity. It is like the evening star, that goes not 
down beneath the darkened west, but sinks into the glories of 
another clime. You may crush and blast its verdure, yet like 
the rose tree that has been bent by the passing gale, beneath 
a cloudless sunshine it will bloom again and look as bright on 
the to-morrow as it did on yesterday. 

The next day Col. Bowie, accompanied by Rutherford and 
his wife, took passage on the boat for New Orleans. It was 
determined to remain only a few days in the city, and then 
start for Texas. 

The second day after landing in New Orleans Col. Bowie 
introduced Rutherford to a tall, raw-boned man wearing a 
reddish-brown wig. It was Jim Fannin, and the trio were 
perhaps the most remarkable men that ever turned their faces 
to the far West; and as long as Texas is a State their names 
will be indissolubly connected with her tragic history. But 
it is not our purpose to anticipate events that have brought 
into notice these remarkable men, two of whose lives were 
offered up in behalf of human rights and human liberty. A 
country was to be reclaimed from the oppressor, and a nation 
was to be brought forth to till the soil made rich by the blood 
of her heroic men. 

The tread of the invader was pressing the soil from which 
sprang the odor from a thousand variegated flowers, leaving 
behind him footprints like that of Attila, and the earth crim- 
son with the blood of her hardy and adventurous sons. 

A new existence seemed to infuse itself in the breast of 
Bob Rutherford, and for the first time in his life he had 


20 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


brought himself slowly but surely to the conclusion that there 
was some magnanimity in him yet, if it could only be brought 
out. Whenever a man arrives at that point in his history, it 
is a sure indication that the good in him is cropping out, and 
it only needs time and place to develop those latent qualities 
which seemingly are lying dormant in his breast. These are 
the men who go forth conquering and to conquer, filling the 
world and history with their noble achievements. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


21 


CHAPTER III. 

A gambling saloon in a city like New Orleans, at the time 
of which we write, was not kept on some side street, or up 
some dark alley where its votaries crept stealthily along, evad- 
ing officers of the law and giving countersigns and watch- 
words to some watchman guarding those silent precincts, that 
only the initiated and their friends might enter. 

On one of the busiest thoroughfares, in a spacious mansion 
with marble steps leading up into a portico, on either side of 
which were two elegant cut-glass globes, so transparent that 
the light seemed but a reflection, stood one of the most fash- 
ionable and sumptuously furnished gambling saloons in the 
South. Entering from the portico into a hall with a high 
ceiling, and blazing with the light of a chandelier whose hun- 
dred prisms were but the reflex of the blaze that swung 
within and dazzled the eye with its brightness, stood a liv- 
eried servant bearing in his hand a silver salver curiously 
wrought, and in the center of which was engraved the figure 
of a soldier with a present-arms. At his feet crouched the 
image of a Newfoundland dog with paws extended in front of 
him. Overhead, richly frescoed on the ceiling, was a knight 
of the red cross mounted on an elegant charger. On the 
shoulder of the knight hung a pelisse made of crimson velvet 
and tipped with sable furs. His feet were incased in heavy 
morocco boots, and from the heel of each hung a silver spur. 
His head was covered with a dark fur cap, with a plume float- 

3 


22 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


ing away from the left and streaming down his back. The 
restless charger stood with one foot raised, as if in the act of 
pawing the ground. The right hand of the knight held the 
bridle, while in the left a pointed spear was raised in a threat- 
ening attitude. Away in the distance, over a sterile plain 
with a rising background, behind which the sun was setting, 
casting a radiant glow over the landscape, rode a company of 
horsemen, but so far off that they did not appear half their 
size. The scene represented a Christian crusader in Pales- 
tine with a company of Saracen horsemen in the distance. 
A door opening to the right led into a suite of rooms, the 
floors of which were covered with rich tapestry, in which the 
foot seemed to sink down into the soft velvet, representing 
beds of tulips and bouquets of roses so delicately arranged 
that one would imagine the light tread of the highly polished 
boot would disarrange them or crush out the delicate tints so 
artistically blended together. On the walls were suspended 
the richest paintings, some from the Old Masters, and others 
from the more modern schools of painting, but each in itself 
a perfect gem. Scattered around the room were sofas and 
divans and highly polished chairs. From the windows, 
draped in damask and lace, hung large silver cords with tas- 
sels of gold. A marble table sat in the center of the room 
without any ornament upon it. But the most attractive piece 
of furniture in this elaborately furnished suite of parlors was 
a sideboard standing in the deep recess of the folding doors, 
with a large mirror back, reflecting from its marble top ele- 
gant cut-glass decanters and goblets, the decanters filled with 
wines and brandy, and Bourbon liquors from the rich blue- 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


2 3 


grass regions of Kentucky. At its side stood a young col- 
ored man with a white apron tied before him and a deeply 
fringed towel hanging on his arm. He was ostensibly the bar- 
keeper for this modern Dives, whose house was filled, not with 
feasting and dancing, but gambling. It was here the sons of 
fashion came, and the wealthy planters from the rich savannas 
of the Gulf and the bayous of the Opelousas and the Teche, 
to meet men deeply versed in all games of chance, throwing 
with jeweled hands the dice and cards, and clicking the silver 
faro box, in front of which the numbers on an ebony table 
were covered with gold and bank-notes and silver, and around 
which was gathered an eager crowd, with eyes strained and 
motionless hands, watching each appearance of a card as it 
was drawn from the box and laid beside its companion. A 
door at the extreme end of the hall led into a large room, 
around which were scattered roulette tables and faro tables 
and keno tables, and tables with cards upon them, and all the 
modern devices of gambling. A suite of rooms to the left 
was used as dining-rooms. 

I have been thus particular in the description of this gam- 
bling saloon, because it was here that not only the wealth, but 
the intelligence of the country were gathered. Men of refine- 
ment, whose social position would have extended to them a 
hearty welcome into the best society of the land, and men of 
wealth whose coffers were overflowing with gold, all met 
around these tables, and arrayed themselves under the ban- 
ner of this goddess of chance, invoking her aid and offering 
as a sacrifice in her behalf honor and fortune and social posi- 
tion, and every thing that is ennobling in our nature, and even 


24 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


the soul itself, if this fickle goddess would only bestow her 
favors upon them. 

The third night after Bob Rutherford, in the company of 
his wife and friend, arrived in the city of New Orleans found 
him standing at the door of this fashionable gambling house, 
accompanied by a richly dressed young man, who seemed to 
be the chaperon ; for after ascending the marble steps he 
gently tapped at the door, which was opened, and a card 
bearing the names of Frank Fairfield and Bob Rutherford 
was placed at the foot of the crouching Newfoundland on the 
silver salver which was borne by the liveried servant. A tall 
gentleman, dressed in an elegant black evening suit, walked 
into the hall as the servant turned with the card on the salver, 
which was presented to him. Without taking it he walked to 
the door, which was left ajar, displaying the two men who 
stood at the entrance. 

“ How are you, Frank ?” said Mr. Desperto, the proprietor 
of the house. “Walk in; I am glad to see you,” extending 
his hand with a cordial greeting. 

After the two friends’ salutation Bob Rutherford was pre- 
sented to the proprietor, and the two men were ushered into 
the parlor. Seating themselves on the divan, Mr. Desperto 
beckoned to the waiter standing at the sideboard in the rear 
parlor, who came in with a silver waiter, on which were three 
goblets and a bottle of sparkling champagne, which he depos- 
ited on the marble-top table. 

“ Come, gentlemen, and join me in a glass of wine,” said 
Mr. Desperto, walking to the table on which rested the sal- 
ver and the goblets and the wine. The three men gathered 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. ' 25 

around, and the servant proceeded to uncork the bottle. 
Filling each glass, Mr. Desperto raised his, after Rutherford 
and his companion had been handed one, and said, “Here 
is to the fallen brave,” alluding to the Vicksburg tragedy. 
The glasses tinkling each other, rang with a peculiar sound, 
and the sparkling fluid was quaffed to the bottom. It would 
seem that these men avoided any allusion to the terrible trag- 
edy in which their friends had met with such an awful fate. 
The toast given was the first mention of it since Rutherford 
had left his friend Tom Johnson and narrated the facts to 
Col. Bowie. 

After a short conversation Mr. Desperto and the two men 
proceeded to the room from which could be heard the rattle 
of dice and the quick spoken words of the faro dealer as he 
called out the cards. Entering the room, which was filled 
with men elegantly dressed and intent upon the games, Mr. 
Desperto said in rather a loud tone, “ O yes, gentlemen, play 
on ; the more you lay down the less you will take up.” This 
singular, but truthful remark, and the entrance of the three 
men was scarcely noticed by the crowd, so absorbed were 
they in the games which they were playing. Walking to one 
of the tables piled up with gold, at which perhaps half a dozen 
men were eagerly watching the cards drawn from the silver 
box by a rather delicate young man upon whose lip a slight 
mustache had just begun to show itself, Bob Rutherford 
stopped, and, bending over to the dealer, said something in 
an undertone, which was answered by the man counting out 
rapidly fifty white ivory chips, which Rutherford pulled over 
to the side of the table at which he was standing. Arranging 


26 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


them in ten piles, he took one and placed it upon a card. 
Swiftly the cards from the silver box flew, and the dealer 
piled up ten more chips by the side of those Rutherford had 
placed on the ace of hearts. Beside these Rutherford placed 
ten more chips, and the wild work went on, and again he 
won. As the pile on the ace of hearts increased, the men at 
the table for the first time noticed the new comer, but only 
for an instant, so absorbed were they in the game, which at 
the present time seemed to attract several persons from differ- 
ent parts of the room. Among others was a tall man, rather 
advanced in life, who, seeing Rutherford, rushed up and 
threw his arms around his neck. The man’s name was At- 
more, and he had escaped from the Casino at Vicksburg on 
the night of Bob’s rescue by his wife. By pushing after them 
and gaining the street, he had fled in the darkness of the 
night. Recognizing him, the two men for a few moments 
stood wrapped in the arms of each other. 

The escape from the Casino was soon told the eager listen- 
ers; and as Atmore went on to describe the tragic scene 
where Rutherford’s young wife, almost distracted at the peril 
of her husband, had snatched the glittering blade from its 
sheath, hung from the belt around his body, and, brandishing 
it over her head, cried, “ Stand back !” and opened a way 
through the vigilance for the two men, a wild hurrah rang 
from the assembled crowd. So enthused had Mr. Desperto 
become during the recital that he called his servant and bade 
him bring a basket of champagne and waiter of glasses. 

The crowd in the mean time had flocked around the two 
men. Two servants entered, one bearing a large waiter filled 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 27 

with glasses, and the other a basket of champagne. For sev- 
eral moments the loud noise produced by the popping of the 
corks resounded through the room, and all the glasses were 
filled with the sparkling wine. Taking one in his hands, Mr. 
Desperto said, “ Here is to the health of Mrs. Rutherford, 
the noblest woman living;” and, after loud and prolonged 
applause and the clicking of the glasses, the toast was drunk. 
Rutherford thanked the gentleman for the mention of his 
wife and for the toast given in her behalf. After a few mo- 
ments’ conversation the men again turned to the card tables, 
and the games were resumed. Late that night, as Ruther- 
ford stepped out on the marble steps, Mr. Desperto extended 
him his hand, saying, “Come again, Mr. Rutherford;” and, 
walking down the street, Bob hastened to the hotel and up to 
the room of his wife. That was the last gambling saloon 
Rutherford ever entered and the last card he was ever known 
to throw. 

What transpired in that room with his devoted wife that 
night will perhaps never be known. But the mental resolves 
there entered into, and the steadfastness of purpose to comply 
with them, became so strong that in his slumbers, as his wife 
watched over him sleeping as quietly as an infant, he ex- 
claimed, “ No, my darling ! for thy sake I will faithfully per- 
form the vows made to you, and nothing shall sever us but 
death itself.” 

Gently bending over him, his wife softly imprinted a kiss 
upon his lips, and she too slept. 

The broad prairies of the far West, at the time of which we 
write, with their thousand variegated flowers, through which 


28 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


the wild deer and buffalo roamed, had never been trampled 
by armed men, nor its grassy plains crimsoned with the blood 
of the hostile foe. Texas, since known as the Lone Star 
State, had not given to the world her history, or chronicled 
the deeds of such devoted men as Fannin and Bowie and 
Travis, and a hundred other heroes of less note, but with 
as brave hearts, who had offered up their lives in her defense, 
grasping her from a foreign foe, and making her, as she is at 
the present time, one of the most attractive countries of the 
South or West. The brightest episode in the history of Gari- 
baldi, in all his wars through the pampas of South America 
and over the plains of Italy, is that in connection with his 
devoted wife, who accompanied him in all his battles, and 
more than once saved him from death. And through all the 
stirring scenes that Bob Rutherford was to pass, the young 
girl who had quitted her home and kindred for the one she 
loved was to be his companion, sustaining him in all the strug- 
gles of an eventful career, cheering him when the dark clouds 
of disappointment hovered over him, nursing him in the hours 
of his sickness, and, when the moments of sunshine gladdened 
their pathway, a loving companion who made the current of 
his life ripple along more smoothly — the life of one like a 
mountain stream, as it came bounding along, dashing over 
precipices and rocky basins, till, met by some meadow brook 
and commingling, they rippled through grassy plains and 
woody dells until they floated into the great ocean, there to 
contend with the billows, to be dashed upon the surf-beaten 
shore and lashed into fury by the raging tempest, and then be 
forever lost sight of in the world of waters in which they 
were forever to commingle. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


2 9 


CHAPTER IV. 

There is a class of men known as pioneers. They become 
the advance guards of civilization, ‘‘making the crooked ways 
straight and the rough places smooth.” Such men are born 
heroes, and go forth into the wilderness to battle against foes 
seen and unseen, and, in their terrible struggles to achieve 
success, perform deeds of courage that would crown the war- 
rior with imperishable laurels and carve his name high upon 
the glittering pinnacle of fame. But too frequently their 
names and their fame die with them, and their graves are 
only known by some little upheaval of the earth, upon which 
the grass is its only covering and its monument. Such were 
the men that were seeking homes in the far West, upon the 
banks of the Colorado and the Brazos. Thither they came, 
these hardy sons of toil, and the smoke of their cabins arose 
like holy incense to the skies, and the cheerful sound of their 
voices as the welcome melody of many waters. 

But there was another nation and another race of people 
watching with a jealous eye the incoming of these pioneers 
from the mighty East and from beyond the great Father of 
Waters. The wily Mexican from over the Rio Grande, and 
the cunning Camanche warrior from beyond the great plains, 
and whose wigwam rested in the shadow of the Rocky Mount- 
ains, had come forth to contest the right of these early settlers 
to the rivers and hunting-grounds of those wide-spread prai- 
ries of this great western empire. Here too the tree of liberty 


30 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

was to be baptized in the blood of her adventurous sons, and 
its root deeply set in a soil that was to be forever consecrated 
to civil and religious freedom. Following in the wake of these 
hardy and industrious sons of the soil, and securing to them 
a firmer foothold upon the land which they had sought as an 
inheritance, are the daring spirits that have made all history 
alive with their exploits. They are the Joshuas and Calebs of 
old, and the Smiths and Standishes of latter days, leaders in 
the great onward march of civilization. 

When the last adobe in the crumbling walls of the Alamo 
shall have mingled with the dust of its native soil, and the 
mounds at Goliad shall have been leveled with the western 
plains, the names of Bowie and Fannin and Travis and 
Crockett shall live on, and each succeeding generation of 
Texans, as they nestle upon their bosoms their offspring, shall 
repeat to them the story of these gallant men who stood be- 
hind those gory walls, piling the earth with their foes until 
the last man expired. 

Bob Rutherford and his wife had determined to take their 
course to this western empire, and, away from the busy scenes 
of the world, build up for themselves a home where they 
might “nestle under their own vine and fig tree, with no one 
to molest or make them afraid.” They had decided to ascend 
the Red River to Natchitoches, and from there cross the coun- 
try to the Colorado. 

Kate Rutherford never appeared so beautiful as she did 
with her husband the morning they stood in the office of the 
hotel prepared to take a carriage to the steamer that was to 
bear them farther on from her old Kentucky home. Her 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 3 1 

long, dark hair was plaited, and hung far down her shoul- 
ders. She wore a light gray sacque over a dark dress, and on 
her head, extending half way down her classic forehead, a 
leghorn cap. She was of medium height, with a clear bru- 
nette complexion peculiar to the dark-eyed Kentucky girls. 
She felt that she was adrift on the great ocean of life, with no 
one to guide or direct her but her husband, and she had 
determined to remain by his side through all life’s varvings 
and changes ; nothing but death should them part. 

The trip up the river had given Rutherford and his wife 
ample leisure to develop their plans for the future, and, as she 
said afterward, was one of the most pleasant weeks she had 
ever passed in the company of her husband. The boat was 
crowded with passengers; some adventurers, others immigrants 
with their families, and a few human sharks who were seeking 
their prey either by robbing the unsuspecting outright or by 
cheating them at cards. They were a hard, motley looking 
set, these river pirates, and might be known by their swagger- 
ing motions and their impudence. 

The second day after their trip out, four men seated them- 
selves at a table in the front of the boat and began a game of 
poker. They played all day, and late in the evening one of 
the men demanded a settlement of a tall, broad-shouldered, 
grizzly headed fellow, who insisted on playing ahead, crying 
out with an oath that he would settle when the game was fin- 
ished. It was evident to the bystanders that the three other 
men were gamblers, and had cheated this poor fellow out of 
fifteen hundred dollars, and were now demanding a settle- 


ment. 


32 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

Standing at the back of the three gamblers interested in the 
game were three other wretched-looking scamps, two of whom 
had bowie-knives run up their sleeves, and a third fellow 
clutched the handle of a pistol which was partly drawn from 
his pocket. The victim of these three gamblers was known 
to two gentlemen on board, planters from the Natchitoches, 
and they attempted a compromise with the three fellows, but 
they doggedly demanded the entire amount. Seeing that 
they were determined to rob the poor fellow out of every 
cent he had, the two gentlemen stepped back, and Bob Ruth- 
erford, who had been watching the progress of events during 
the day, and knowing that the three gamblers were swindling 
the man they played with, whispered a word into the ear of 
one of the gentlemen, and, drawing a pistol in each hand, 
said, “You scoundrels! you have been robbing this man, and 
the first one who lays hands on him I will put a bullet through 
him!” Backed by a dozen other gentlemen on board, the 
scamps slunk away, and at the next landing the entire party 
left the boat. Bob Rutherford now became the hero of the 
party, and the poor fellow whom the gamblers would have so 
cruelly robbed could not sufficiently express his gratitude to 
him. He wanted Bob to take a gold watch he carried, and 
when he found he could not get him to accept any thing for 
his kindness he turned to his wife, who stood near, and before 
she was aware of it took her hand and slipped upon her finger 
a small gold ring, and then beat a hasty retreat to the rear of 
the cabin. The passengers were all amused, and insisted that 
she should keep it. One of the gentlemen who knew the 
poor fellow said, “ Mrs. Rutherford, you should by all means 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


33 


wear it, and whenever you look upon it it should remind you 
of a gallant act of your husband.” This settled the question, 
and I doubt if she then would have parted with it under any 
consideration. 

The town of Natchitoches consisted of a number of low, 
badly constructed houses, and was not at all inviting to 
strangers. Having slept on the boat the night after landing 
at this outpost, as it were, of civilization, the next morning 
Rutherford had led forth from their stalls a beautiful cream- 
colored mare and a large, well-made bay horse about sixteen 
hands high, the sire of which was noted as being one of the 
fastest Kentucky horses. With large nostrils, a thin, bony 
head, small ears, and trim looking legs, his step was the very 
poetry of motion. Both horses were elegantly caparisoned, 
and on the saddle of Rutherford’s horse was a pair of well- 
stuffed saddle-bags. The horses and outfit were purchased by 
Rutherford and brought on the boat with them from New 
Orleans. *That morning Rutherford and his wife, mounted 
upon the two horses, turned their faces toward the setting sun. 

Out in the Arkansas bottoms, not very long before the time 
of which we write, there were a number of Indian wigwams, 
forming quite a settlement of these dusky sons of the forest. 
On an elevated plateau, at the base of which was a small run- 
ning stream, the banks fringed with shrubs and grass, tinged 
with a yellow hue by the early autumn frosts, stood a wigwam 
much larger than the rest. 

In front of this hut, seated on a log, in rather a meditative 
mood, was a man in the meridian of his life. As yet, only a 
few gray hairs had been scattered here and there through his 


34 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

locks. He was dressed in the garb of a western hunter. 
The man was Ex-Governor Houston, of Tennessee, which 
office only a few months previous he had resigned, and had 
come thither, care-worn and heart-sore, to find sympathy and 
a hearty welcome among these dusky warriors of the West, 
whose chief was his staunch friend, and had once before wel- 
comed him to the shelter of his wigwam and its rude hospi- 
tality. 

Rising from his seat, he entered the hut, and, taking a rifle 
from a rack, walked down to the creek, and, crossing it on a 
log, entered the woods bordering it and moved on into the 
forest. It would seem that he had gone thither, not for the 
purpose of hunting game, but for deep meditation. It was a 
quiet autumn day, a season of the year known in this latitude 
as Indian summer. The atmosphere was hazy, and a deep 
stillness reigned through the forest, only interrupted by the 
occasional dropping of a hickory nut or the barking of a 
squirrel in some distant tree. Near him a deer walked past, 
but so still he sat that the timid animal did not recognize his 
appearance. For a moment it stopped with its feet bathed in 
the running brook, and, bending its head to the limpid waters 
to slake its thirst, it bounded away through the forest and was 
soon lost to sight. He looked after it until it disappeared 
from view, but did not raise his rifle nor attempt a shot at it. 

For three months he had been the guest of the old Indian 
chief, during which time events were developing themselves 
that were to draw this wonderful man from his forest retreat 
and make him a leader in a struggle that has no parallel in 
history — a struggle in which a few hundred hardy and adven- 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 35 

turous men were to make a great nation ignominiously sur- 
render, with the loss of an army either slain or taken prisoners 
and their leading general a helpless captive. It was a fight 
in which men were engaged for their homes and firesides 
against an aggressor who had come with the torch and the 
sword, leaving behind him a scene of desolation in the smoke 
of burning cottages and agonizing cries of distress from help- 
less children and women who were either brutally outraged or 
murdered, and sometimes both, with no friendly hand near to 
give them succor or release from their savage oppressors. It 
would seem that a manifest destiny was hastening forward 
those bold spirits whose daring exploits were to make them 
forever famous in the history of their country. 

Returning to the wigwam, as he crossed the brook he was 
surprised to see two horses hitched near, one of which neighed 
as he walked up, at the sound of which two white men came 
out, accompanied by the Indian chief. Mr. Houston imme- 
diately recognized them as his friends from Tennessee. Ap- 
proaching, he extended to each a hand, and after many 
congratulations upon each others’ health, and the pleasure 
afforded them of meeting again, they returned to the wigwam. 
The men were on their way to Texas, and had called to get 
Mr. Houston to accompany them. 

The next morning the horses were saddled, and the three 
men came forth to take their departure. The sun had risen, 
casting its mellow rays over the landscape, giving it a somber 
appearance, that made the scene then transpiring one of the 
most touching and impressive ever witnessed by mortal man. 
More than two hundred Indians, men, women, and children, 


36 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

had assembled around the wigwam of their chief to bid adieu 
to their pale-faced brother who was to take his departure for- 
ever from a place and a people who, in the greatest hour of 
his affliction, had extended a welcome and a sympathy to him 
that had bound his heart with a cord which seemed like tear- 
ing away his heart-strings to sever. By his side stood the old 
chief, his friend for more than half a life-time — a friend who, 
when the clouds began to lower and the heart began to pale 
beneath the forked lightning of impending wrath and desola- 
tion to his soul, had been more than a father or brother to 
him. Standing with his head bared before his warrior friend, 
the latter pressed one hand on it, and, grasping the other, 
said, “ Sam Houston, you will remember that the door of this 
wigwam is always open to you, and you will ever find a wel- 
come from these, my children,” waving his hand over the 
assembled Indians, who began a peculiar and solemn chant 
as Mr. Houston threw his arms around the old chief’s neck, 
and then mounting his horse and waving his hand to his dusky 
friends, with a heavy heart turned his horse’s head and rode 
away, followed by his two white comrades. 

Some one has said that “ war means fight, and fight means 
kill.” This was certainly a very correct definition of it, as 
has been attested by all wars in which nations have engaged. 
The occupation by American immigrants of the soil of Texas 
had aroused the jealousy of Mexico, who laid claim to it, and 
it was determined to drive the settlers from the country. 
Many outrages had been perpetrated against them by depre- 
dating bands of Mexicans, and it was determined to resist 
the savage foe. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


37 


CHAPTER V. 

“ Bob/’ said Kate Rutherford to her husband one evening 
as they were passing through a wide-spread prairie between 
the Brazos and the Colorado rivers, about two weeks after 
they had left Natchitoches, “I had a dream last night which 
has made quite an impression on my mind ; so much so that 
it has greatly disturbed me.” 

“ Well, Kate, you know you are a great dreamer,” said her 
husband, laughing ; “ but what have you dreamed so terrible 
that it has caused you so much mental anxiety ?” 

“ 1 dreamed,” she said, “ that we were out on the banks of 
the Elkhorn, in dear old Kentucky, where we used to go and 
have such delightful picnics. I thought that you and I had 
wandered down under the great cliff just above the old mill, 
and, unloosing the boat, you had helped me in, and, seating 
yourself by my side, had pushed off, and we went slowly 
floating down the stream. As we drifted, in the stillness of 
the evening, you began to whisper in my ear how much you 
loved me, and that you would sacrifice your own life to save 
mine. As the honeyed words fell from your lips, and my ear 
seemed to drink them in with all that affection that a woman 
has for the man she loves, and the hum of the distant voices 
of our friends far up the creek began to grow less distinct, 
drowned by the rushing tide as it broke over the dam, we 
were startled by a loud voice crying out to us to ‘ man the 
oars !’ or we would be swept over the rushing cataract. Ris- 

4 


38 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

ing instantly from the seat, I thought you were horrified to 
find that the oars had been left on the bank, and that we were 
swiftly floating to a watery grave. Terrified as I was, I 
thought, as I looked upon you as you stood on the seat by 
my side, that I had never beheld you look so manly, and that 
if we were swept on to destruction it would be a great joy to 
die with you and go out into that great and unknown eternity 
together. 

“ At that moment I thought you said, ‘ An eye for an eye, 
and a tooth for a tooth, but what will not a man give for his 
own life/ and, making a tremendous leap, you dived head- 
long into the waters, and, rising, struck out for the shore, and 
the boat, with its helpless cargo of mortality, floated down the 
swift current. As we neared the dam, I thought the boat 
gave one rapid plunge, but instead of going down with the 
angry waters it was caught up in a passing cloud fringed with 
gold, and in its fleecy brightness the boat had turned to silver, 
and a sail was spread, which was filled with the winds, and we 
sailed slowly over the spot where you had taken the leap, and 
now stood upon the shore with your clothes dripping with 
water. As we sailed past, a great eagle hovered over the 
spot, and, swooping down upon you, bore you aloft, andjo- 
gether we moved along for a short time, until the eagle, with 
swifter wing, ascending higher and higher, became almost a 
speck in the heavens above me. ‘ Hasten, oh winds ! my 
boat/ I cried, ‘ till it conveys me nearer to him I love/ and 
the freshened breeze bent the sails, and again we neared the 
wild bird in its upward flight. For a moment we sailed under 
the eagle, when with a wild scream its claws were unloosed 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 39 

from your clothes, and you fell down, down in your rapid 
flight; and as you neared the boat in the fleecy cloud I 
thought I heard you exclaim, ‘Catch me, Kate! catch me!’ 
and, reaching out, I caught you by the coat-tail and pulled 
you in. As you lay panting and wet in the bottom of the 
boat, I said to you, ‘ Bob, Byron says, “A woman’s vows are 
traced in sand,” but yours seem to be of the watery kind, 
from the way you struck out from the boat to the shore.’ I 
thought I never saw you look so sheepish, and, as I reached 
down to lift you up, there came a great noise, and I awoke 
as the slats began falling out of that old rickety bedstead we 
slept in last night.” 

“Well, Kate, that was certainly a wonderful dream,” said 
Bob, and the two reined up their horses and moved along at 
a more rapid pace, as the shadows of the evening were fast 
approaching. That night they sat by a blazing fire in a cot- 
tage on the banks of the Colorado — a cottage that for several 
months became the home of the beautiful Kate Rutherford. 
It was here that Bob Rutherford collected around him a band 
of those daring spirits whose exploits have made the Rangers 
of Texas famous and their name a terror to her foes. 

One autumn day, late in the afternoon, at a small village 
near to the cottage where Rutherford had taken up his quar- 
ters with a family by the name of Ashwood, that he had known 
in Kentucky, a large number of men had assembled. Among 
them were several prominent characters — men whose names 
had found a niche in the Temple of Fame, and were yet des- 
tined to be carved higher and deeper by the Goddess of Lib- 
erty, at whose shrine they were to offer up their lives as a 


40 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


sacrifice, cementing with their blood this great temple, and 
bequeathing to posterity those principles so dear to every 
American patriot — the right of free government, and hatred 
to tyrants. Prominent among these men were Houston and 
Bowie and Travis and Fannin, the celebrated Davy Crockett, 
and a number of other men whose history stands out promi- 
nently in the great contest in which they were about to engage 
in freeing Texas forever from her hated foes, the cruel Mex- 
ican and the more cunning and atrocious Camanche. 

A few weeks later Bowie and Crockett occupied an out- 
post, and Travis and Fannin were stationed at Goliad. 

Then began one of the most tragic wars that had ever 
occurred on American soil. But it is not our purpose to go 
into a detailed account of this war, only as it pertained to 
Rutherford and his wife, and the part that they took in the 
great struggle in which they were engaged. 

Rutherford commanded a company of Rangers, seventy-five 
in number, and in the bottoms of the Colorado, a few miles 
above the cottage where his wife was domiciled, they were 
encamped on the evening these remarkable men met at the 
village just mentioned. It was there General Houston had 
mapped out the campaign, and had sent forward those troops 
to drive back the invader from the soil. How well they per- 
formed their part subsequent events will determine. 

In the extreme western portion of Texas, where the Pecos 
River forms a confluence with the Rio Grande, and at a point 
about fifty or seventy-five miles from its junction, is a spur of 
the Gaudeloupe Mountains. At the base of the mountain a 
small stream winds around it, and leaps over a precipice, 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 4 1 

forming one of the most beautiful cascades in all these wild 
mountain regions. Far up the mountain side is an old adobe 
fort, and near it a small Mexican village. To the right of the 
fort is a hacienda with a broad court. The house is built in 
an angular shape, with port-holes in its side and a turreted 
roof. Here resided the Alcaide of the village. His family 
consisted of two sons and a granddaughter. The girl was 
perhaps eighteen years of age, and, as her mother had been 
a descendant of an American, her skin was fairer than most 
Mexican women. She was a brunette of the most beautiful 
type, and the pride of a loving household. A road cut in 
the side of the mountain led up to the village. Back of this 
quiet little town the mountains banked one above the other 
like great clouds in a western sky at sunset. To the east, 
and beyond the mountain stream, the prairies stretched them- 
selves away like a great ocean — a broad and seemingly unlim- 
ited expanse that the eye tired in its efforts to fathom. 

On an autumn evening, about three hours from sunset, a 
band of Camanche Indians came sweeping over the prairie. 
To the left, and nearer to the range of mountains, moving 
slowly along was the company of Rangers commanded by 
Captain Rutherford. They had just crossed a small stream, 
when they were recognized by the Camanches. Their num- 
ber seemed double those of the Rangers, and, wheeling their 
horses, they moved around toward the base of the mountain, 
but in the direction of Rutherford and his men. The Ran- 
gers understood this strategic movement of their wily foe, and 
pressed toward the mountain side. Finding their foes still 
passing down the mountain, they whirled their horses, and 


42 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


with a yell that seemed blood-curdling as it was echoed from 
the mountain side they came rushing on with the speed of 
the wind. • The Mexicans from their mountain fastness had 
gathered at a point that overlooked the prairie, as the Rangers 
with closed ranks stood to receive the shock of battle. The 
Indians, as they beheld the serried ranks of the Rangers as 
they stood unmoved to receive the charge, when within a 
hundred yards of them whirled to the left, and moving in a 
circle again gave a yell of defiance and dashed on to the 
desperate encounter. The Rangers held their fire until the 
Indians had approached within fifty yards, when the whole 
line flashed like streaming lightning, and the volleying echoes 
resounded from the depths of the mountains. A half dozen 
horses dashed over the prairie riderless, and as the Indian 
warriors whirled at the severe shock of battle, the Rangers, 
headed by Rutherford, dashed after them. Then occurred 
one of the fiercest contests that had ever taken place in this 
wild mountain region. Whirling and firing, and bending in 
a wide circle and charging again, the Camanche warriors still 
held the Rangers to the conflict. 

After one of those desperate charges, just at the base of the 
mountain, and before the smoke of battle lifted itself from the 
prairie, a horse, and one belonging to the Rangers, went dash- 
ing away riderless. As he sped over the waving grass of the 
prairie, the Rangers recognized him as the spirited bay horse 
of their commander, the gallant Rutherford. Pressed back 
by another charge of the Camanches, it became a running 
fight, the Rangers at one time leading in the charge, and 
then the Indians, until the night shades approached. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


43 


The Rangers picketed their horses that night near the 
battle-field. Five of their number were missing — three pri- 
vates, Lieutenant Billingsley, and their captain, Bob Ruth- 
erford. The next morning at the peep of day the bay horse 
of Rutherford, and by him called Romeo, was found brows- 
ing near the tethered horses, without a saddle. The Indians 
during the night had disappeared. 

It is a sad sight to pass over a battle-field, though it may 
have been only a skirmish. As the Rangers rode over the 
ground where the conflict had taken place, the bodies of ten 
Indians were scattered here and there, showing where each 
charge had been made and the enemy repulsed. Among 
them were the three bodies of their comrades, and a little 
higher up, and away from the dead bodies of the Indians 
and the Rangers, the saddle of Rutherford was picked up. 

For half a day the Rangers rode up and down the prairie 
to see if they could find any thing of the bodies of Captain 
Rutherford and Lieutenant Billingsley. But no traces of 
them were to be found. That night they went into camp 
near the beautiful cascade, and, building their camp-fires, 
with sad hearts gathered around and talked of the missing 
ones until the night was far advanced. It was possible that 
the Indians might have borne them off, as Billingsley’s horse 
was found shot through on the battle-ground. But a differ- 
ent fate awaited the captain. 

During one of the charges of the Indians Rutherford felt 
himself, as it were, gliding from his horse, and attempted to 
grasp his mane, but his saddle had receded too far back, and 
both it and the rider came to the ground, and the horse kept 


44 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


on in his rapid flight. Fortunately the charge was repulsed 
and the Indians were driven back. 

Rutherford found himself at the foot of the mountain and 
near a small running stream. As he crossed it and moved 
down its bank he felt the earth giving way under him, and 
he began to sink down gradually and then more rapidly, the 
earth and the gravel pouring in upon him in his descent. It 
seemed that he had rolled and fallen thirty feet, when he 
glided off into a large recess, where he lay stunned and bleed- 
ing and half covered with rocks and earth. Bruised and 
wounded in his rapid descent, it was an hour before he could 
raise himself up. Recovering sufficiently, he sat up and 
looked about him. From the dim light above him he per- 
ceived that he was in a cave. He looked up, and, seeing 
that he could not extricate himself through the opening from 
the perilous position he found himself in, he moved cautiously 
along by the dim light afforded from above until darkness 
enveloped him. Groping his way through the darkness for a 
short space, he halted, as he imagined he heard the far-away 
sounds of music. Listening, he advanced, when a ray of light 
like the feeble glimmer of a distant star penetrated the gloom 
in which he was surrounded. For a moment he halted, resting 
himself against a projecting rock, and then slowly advanced. 
From the pale amber light, dim at first, but growing brighter 
as he moved forward, the rays became golden, and then scar- 
let, until the whole cave was filled with flashes of lightning, 
dancing along the walls and dazzling the eye with its bright- 
ness. Then the low, sweet sound at first heard, like the 
strains of distant music, became more audible. As he moved 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


45 


along, a flaming sheet glittering with jewels seemed suspended 
before him, and the sweet sound broke into the rushing of 
many waters. He stopped. His senses were steeped into 
forgetfulness, and, raising his hands to his head, his brain 
reeled, his knees began to tremble, and he fell to the ground. 

How long he remained in this condition he knew not. When 
he recovered he found an old gray-headed man bending over 
him. On a rock near them a light feebly glimmered, and 
the rushing waters became more audible. For several mo- 
ments he could not realize his situation, but gradually began 
to recover his lost senses, and found that he was still in the 
cave. But how changed the scene ! The beautiful vision 
had disappeared, and nothing but darkness was before him. 

Raising him up and supporting him by the arm, or, rather, 
leading him, the old man, with the light in one hand, moved 
slowly along until he came into a large chamber, around 
which was hung a number of skins of different animals — deer 
skins and bear skins and buffalo robes and a beautiful spot- 
ted skin of a panther. 

Taking several of the buffalo robes down and spreading 
them upon a projecting rock slightly scooped out by nature, 
the old man led Rutherford forward and pointed to the bed 
prepared for him. 

Sore and wounded by the jagged rocks in his descent into 
the cave, he stretched himself on the bed, and was soon lulled 
to sleep by the falling waters. 


4 6 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER VI. 

Rutherford slept soundly, and when he opened his eyes he 
found the whole cave flooded with light, but the old man was 
not to be seen. Raising up, he looked around the cave. He 
was in a large chamber with a lofty ceiling. Far in advance 
of him the light was breaking into rainbow hues through the 
falling waters, forming a beautiful cascade. 

Too sore to rise, he sat on his bed wondering what had 
become of the old man, or whether his appearance last night 
was not a vision. But the bed on which he. rested and the 
skins of the different animals hanging around was conclusive 
to his mind that the old man was a reality, and not a creation 
of his disordered imagination, as he first supposed. Shortly 
the matter was put to rest by the appearance of the old man 
as he seemed to rise up through the waters forming the beau- 
tiful cascade in front of him. 

Coming forward, the old man stood beside him and said, 
“Friend, whence comest thou, and whither art thou tending?” 

Rutherford as he looked upon him imagined that he was 
some antediluvian. His beard, almost as white as the driven 
snow, hung down his breast, and his locks, rivaling them in 
whiteness, mingled and floated far down his shoulders. He 
was of medium height, with a peculiarly shaped nose, and a 
, countenance which at once stamped him as one of the sons 
of Abraham. 

Seating himself on a projecting rock beside Rutherford, he 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 47 

listened attentively to his story of the appearance of the Ca- 
manche Indians on the prairie, their detour, the charge they 
made, the repulse, the running fight, and the breaking of the 
girth of his saddle in the charge, which precipitated him to 
the ground. Then he told him of the earth sinking under 
him, his rapid descent into the cave, and how, creeping along 
in the darkness, he beheld the feeble glimmer of the light, 
like a distant star, that had drawn him on, wounded and 
sore, until, overcome with faintness, he had fallen to the 
ground, where he first beheld his companion bending over 
him. 

Without speaking the old man rose from his seat, and, 
going to a remote part of the chamber, kindled a fire, and 
preparing a warm fluid, which Rutherford thought was the 
most exhilarating drink he had ever taken, he placed before 
him a quantity of fresh oranges, grapes, and a long, yellow 
fruit, cooling and of delicious flavor. He also brought dried 
venison and a cake made of some kind of grain resembling 
oatmeal. The coffee, flavored with the pulque, a national 
drink with the Mexicans, not only stimulated him, but after 
his long fast gave him such an appetite that he almost con- 
sumed every thing placed before him. 

After his meal he attempted to arise from his bed, and the 
effort gave him so much pain that he did not try it a second 
time, but remained in a reclining position. He at once con- 
cluded that it would be impossible for him to move out that 
day, and with a kind of restless resignation he submitted him- 
self to his fate. 

The cave in which Rutherford was helplessly stretched was 


48 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

filled with gypsum, and the beautiful stalactites, as the mellow 
light from without penetrated the darkness, gave it an en- 
chanting appearance. 

In front of him, perhaps one hundred yards distant, was 
what seemed to be the mouth of the cave, over which fell 
first in sheets and then in spray, as the capricious winds 
whirled it about, a beautiful cascade; and as the morning 
sunlight flashed against it, resolving itself into rainbow hues, 
and roaring and dashing along, it was almost bewildering to 
the sense, and produced a kind of awe-inspiring mood in the 
brain of the bruised and wounded Rutherford, as he lay 
watching the motion of the old man as he moved about the 
cave without uttering so much as a word. 

At length the old man turned his face toward the mouth of 
the cave, and Rutherford watched him until he was in the 
midst of the waterfall. For a moment he seemed to be poised 
in this position, with his hands raised above his head and in 
front of him, when he gradually began to sink down, his fig- 
ure growing less until it disappeared entirely from sight. 

With his eyes resting upon the spot whence the old man 
had disappeared, he gradually became more drowsy, until his 
eyes closed, and he slept. When he awoke, feeling much 
refreshed, he beheld the gray head of the old man rising out 
of the waters at the spot where he had disappeared, and 
mounting up, as it were, on the waves, he came forward and, 
seating himself by Rutherford, said, “ I hope you are much 
better.” 

“Thank you, sir,” Rutherford replied, ‘‘I not only feel 
much better, but do not feel so sore as I did. I was fearful 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 49 

that in my fall I had broken one of my ribs, but am now sat- 
isfied I was only bruised, and hope that in a few hours I may 
be enabled to go hence and try to be again with my boys, 
who I suppose by this time think me either a prisoner or 
beyond all human aid or succor.” 

“You will not be in a condition to leave this cave before 
to-morrow,” the old man said, “ and I would advise you not 
to attempt it.” 

Feeling in an inquisitive mood, and interested to know 
something of the old man and his history, and how he came 
to be out in this remote background of civilization, Ruther- 
ford said to him, “ How is it that you seem to have taken up 
your abode in this cave, and live here alone with no friend 
or companion ?” 

“ My friend,” he said, “ my life has been a checkered one. 
I was born in the great city of London, and my father, Jacob 
Alvarez, a Jewish Rabbi and a merchant, gave me a pretty 
fair education, and I was considered when a youth to be well 
versed in all the doctrines and customs pertaining to our faith. 
With that restlessness peculiar to our people, when I arrived 
at the age of maturity I was not satisfied with the slow gains 
and the bartering of merchandise, but desired to go hence 
and seek my fortune in other lands and among other nations 
of people. Bidding adieu to my friends, I steered my course 
for the West Indies, and, landing on the little island of Mar- 
tinique, lived for several years among the natives, and by 
dint of hard labor and perseverance accumulated quite a sum 
of money. 

“ Becoming disgusted with a residence among a race of peo- 


50 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

pie whose lives were given up to indolence and ease, regard- 
less of the great battle of life in which we should all engage, 
spending their mornings in pleasure and gossip, and their 
evenings in siestas, I determined to go into Mexico, a land 
whose wealth and inexhaustible mines of silver had been a 
kind of lodestone, drawing to its shores men of strong nerves, 
iron will, and fearless hearts — men who were not afraid of the 
‘ pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor of the destruction 
that wasteth at noonday.’ 

“ Landing at Vera Cruz, I came into that beautiful valley in 
the midst of which stands the quiet little city of Monterey. 

“Young — and though I say it myself, old and gray-haired 
and infirm as I now am, I was at that time considered to be 
a handsome man — and having established myself in business, 
I was soon regarded as one of the most successful merchants 
in the city of Monterey. 

“ My neighbor, a man of our own faith, had married a 
Mexican lady, and at the time when I first engaged in busi- 
ness in this Mexican city Isabella Travino, their only daugh- 
ter, was perhaps thirteen years of age. As she grew up she 
became more beautiful. No Madonna or Venus de Medici 
ever appeared more bewitching than Isabella did at the age 
of sixteen. Her father had from the first formed quite a 
friendship for me, and I in return felt a very warm attach- 
ment to his daughter. This was reciprocated, and for several 
years the current of my life seemed to ripple along without 
any obstruction to mar my happiness. The days were spent 
in business, and the evenings ” — and for a moment the old 
man buried his head in his hands, and was silent. Raising 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 5 1 

it again, he continued, “ The evenings,” as if he would em- 
phasize those hallowed hours, “ were spent in the company of 
Isabella. On her eighteenth birthday we married, and on 
her next ” — and the old man’s voice faltered, and again his 
head sank on his hands. Rising as he spoke, and stretching 
them above his head, he continued in a suppressed voice, as 
the words trembled upon his lips, “The next, she died,” and 
falling upon his knees he bent his head to the ground, and 
lifting the dirt let it fall upon his gray hairs. 

Rutherford said afterward that he never before saw such 
agony depicted upon the human countenance, as the old man 
arose and after a short time continued his story. 

“When it was announced that my wife was dead, I rushed 
out of the room, exclaiming, 1 Nevermore shall the roof of a 
house cover my defenseless head !’ 

“ The child born of my darling wife we called Isabella, 
after her mother. Turning all my property over to my wife’s 
father, for the benefit of our child, I left Monterey and came 
up into this country. Here I have lived since the death of 
my wife, trading with the Indians for furs, and brooding over 
my great sorrow. 

“ In the mountains above us is a small Mexican town. A 
few years after the death of my wife, her father came with 
his family and the beautiful little Isabella, the image of her 
mother, and they now reside at the hacienda near the village. 
Fifteen years ago by chance I came into this cave, and ever 
since it has been a home to me. These hairs,” he said, as he 
raised the locks gently and threw them off his forehead, 
“have not drifted into the hard winter of old age and its 


52 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

infirmities, like the hoar frost as it settles upon the leafless 
branches of the forest trees, and through which the howling 
winds waste themselves. No; they are not from old age,” 
he said, as he looked down upon his beard white as the snow- 
drift, “ but they come from the barren wilderness of the soul, 
through which the storms of a dreary winter have left its 
untimely traces and made it prematurely old.” 

After reciting this strange and eventful history, one that 
had stirred the soul of Rutherford from its innermost depths, 
the old man turned away, and, overcome with the emotion 
produced by the touching story, he fell back faint and almost 
overcome upon his couch. 

That evening, as the sun began to sink like a great ball of 
fire, the reflection through the cascade produced that beau- 
tiful appearance witnessed by Rutherford the evening he 
entered the cave. 

The next morning, the old man having prepared a pot of 
the delicious beverage so appetizing to Rutherford the day 
before, and which now seemed to exhilarate him, the two 
men wended their way to the mouth of the cave. The cur- 
rent from above came pouring over, entirely hiding them from 
outward view. The water fell on a solid rock, and then ran 
foaming and dashing down the creek. Above them a pro- 
jecting rock divided the waters for several feet, and between 
the two great sheets a misty spray like a thin veil filled the 
intervening space. Led by the old man, they descended a 
few steps and looked through the spray into the morning sun- 
light. Above them, a short distance off, the horses of Ruth- 
erford’s command were tethered in the long prairie grass, and 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


53 


on the bank the men were gathered, talking of the missing 
ones and admiring the beautiful sheet of water. Passing 
through the spray like a water spirit, Rutherford stood on 
the rock in front of the falls and in full view of his men gath- 
ered on the bank a short distance below him. 

The men, at first doubting their own senses, and bewil- 
dered by the appearance of their beloved companion, re- 
mained breathlessly silent. But the seeming illusion was at 
length dispelled by Rutherford taking off his hat and waving 
it at them. 

Fully recognizing their leader, one of the most terrific yells 
ever uttered by a company of soldiers broke the stillness of 
the scene, and a rush was made to the spot where he stood. 

Clambering down the embankment, the men gathered him 
on their shoulders and bore him up the steep bank. They 
were frantic with joy as they now realized beyond all doubt 
that the man they had given up as lost was with them, and as 
the entire command gathered around him they made the wel- 
kin ring v/ith their shouts of joy. 

Rutherford was almost overcome by these demonstrations 
of love and affection from his men, and it was some time 
before he could give them a history of his adventures. 

As he concluded his story the men looked up, and far 
beyond the cataract, upon a projecting point, they beheld the 
old man as he stood with his hat off and his white locks lifted 
by the morning’s breeze. For a moment he stood and looked 
down upon Rutherford and his men, and then, waving his 
hat, he stepped back and was lost to the view of the Texas 
Rangers. 


5 


54 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER VII. 

After the advent of Rutherford the men hoped that Lieu- 
tenant Billingsley would make his appearance, and for several 
hours after mounting their horses they rode up and down the 
prairie at the foot of the mountain ; but “ he was not,” and, 
disheartened, they turned their horses’ heads and rode away 
toward the south. Looking back, they saw the quiet little 
village nestled in the mountain and bathed in a flood of sun- 
light. They could see the only road leading up to it as it 
wound around like a great serpent from base to summit. 
Ahead of them stretched the seemingly limitless prairie, over 
which they moved at a slow pace. Their hearts were sad. 
They were moving away from the scene of their first battle- 
ground, and, though they had won a victory, the sacrifice had 
been made, and three of their number slept quietly under the 
waving mesquite grass of the western prairies, and a fourth 
had gone out into that lonely and dreary expanse of doubt 
and uncertainty that was to them even worse than death 
itself — a mysterious future, hiding from view the very exist- 
ence of their companion, leading them seemingly to hope 
beyond all chance or change, but still hoping. 

That night their horses were picketed upon the banks of 
the Rio Grande. Across the river they could see the thick 
chaparral fringing the bank and extending back, a dark 
upheaving mass of tangled brushwood, through which to- 
morrow they were to penetrate and enter into a country 
whose inhabitants were their deadly foes. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 55 

From the darkness beyond they could hear the howling 
wolves, and occasionally the wild shriek of the jaguar. That 
night no camp-fires were made, and the men grouped about 
and talked in suppressed tones. The horses, with a seeming 
instinct of danger, browsed quietly, and the pickets, as they 
stood close beside them ready to mount at the slightest alarm, 
nerved themselves to unsurpassed watchfulness. But the 
night passed quietly away, and toward midnight the soldiers 
spread their blankets upon the grass and slept. 

The next morning, as the sun came dancing over the bound- 
less sea of prairie grass, a low sound like the rumbling of dis- 
tant thunder broke in upon the stillness. The men preparing 
their breakfast stopped and listened, but the sound was not 
repeated, nor did they understand whence it came. Ruther- 
ford was of the impression that it was a signal gun from the 
advance guard of the Mexican army. 

After their breakfast had been finished the men mounted 
their horses, prepared to cross the river, and for the first time 
carry the war into the enemy’s country. 

Passing down a few hundred yards to a ford, Rutherford 
led his men across the river and entered the soil of Mexico. 

That evening they captured a Mexican soldier and extorted 
from him by threats the information that a company of sol- 
diers were holding high carnival at a village a few miles off. 
Rutherford, learning that there was only a company of them 
on their way to join their regiment, determined to give them 
a surprise and capture the whole gang. Withdrawing his 
command from the road into a thick growth of chaparral, 
they waited until the shades of evening approached, desiring 


56 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

to make a night attack upon the enemy as these gay Lotha- 
rios mingled in the giddy mazes of the dance with their fair 
senoritas. But the wily foe had taken the alarm, having been 
informed by a Mexican ranchero of the movements of the 
Rangers, and when they dashed into the village the soldiers 
had fled and the people were laboring under the greatest con- 
sternation and alarm. 

An old greaser, sitting on a box, and oblivious to the exist- 
ing state of affairs, continued to draw his bow across three 
strings of his violin, the treble having snapped asunder and 
hung dangling from the key-board. 

Two of Rutherford’s men, catching each other around the 
waist, spun around the floor trying to keep step to the dis- 
cordant music, and, confidence having been restored, the 
Mexican girls timidly yielded their hands to the Rangers and 
joined in the dance. For more than an hour the frolic con- 
tinued, the young senoritas rather enjoying the frolic with 
their new and unceremoniously introduced guests. 

Rutherford learning from the captured soldier that the 
Mexican army had crossed the Rio Grande into Texas, de- 
termined to withdraw his men from the Mexican border and 
go where his country most needed his services. Bidding 
adieu to the fair senoritas, who gathered at the door as the 
soldiers mounted their horses, Rutherford led his men across 
the valley, and at daylight stood at the west bank of the Rio 
Grande, about thirty miles below the first crossing. 

Lieutenant Billingsley, whose mysterious disappearance had 
created so much distress and deep feeling within the breasts 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 57 

of his comrades, sorely wounded, and his horse shot from 
under him, wandered across the prairie, and reaching the 
foot of the mountain began the ascent toward the Mexican 
village. Hearing the yells of his comrades as they made 
their last desperate charge into the very midst of those wild 
warriors of the West, he halted and looked over the battle- 
field. He had made the ascent about half way to the village, 
and, weak and dizzy from the loss of blood, sat down by the 
roadside and fell into a deep swoon. 

The two sons of the Alcaide, who had been watching the 
fight between Rutherford’s men and the Indians, and had wit- 
nessed the approach of Billingsley, went down to the place 
where he was lying, and, finding him badly wounded and 
senseless, had him conveyed to the hacienda, where for sev- 
eral days his life seemed to hang, as it were, upon a thread. 
When he came to himself he found the two young men stand- 
ing by his side, and the young and beautiful Isabella seated 
near, watching the physician, who had just finished dressing 
his wound. Raising his eyes, that had already seemed as if 
they were closed in their last sleep, he looked around the 
room and then at the men who stood at his side. Lowering 
them, they met the gaze of the young girl, who, blushing, 
dropped her beautiful lashes over her dark eyes and bowed 
her head upon her breast. Thus she sat for a moment, and 
then rising, left the room. The eyes of Billingsley involun- 
tarily followed her motions until her form had disappeared 
from his sight. 

The room in which he was lying was large, with a low ceil- 
ing. There were two windows, and a door leading into a 


58 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

passage. From the bed he could look from the window on 
the village near by. 

There were perhaps fifty houses, built very much alike, and 
so situated that a large plaza was formed in the center, in 
which were a number of trees, and under them, scattered at 
irregular distances, a number of benches. In the rear of the 
village was a long chain of mountains, forming a beautiful 
background. 

It was evening when Billingsley roused up, and as he looked 
out upon the village, and then upon the mountains bathed in 
an autumnal sunset, his heart seemed moved, and, closing his 
eyes, his lips quivered. 

It was several weeks before the wound was sufficiently 
healed to enable him to leave the room. During that long 
interval he was frequently cheered by the presence of Isa- 
bella, who came and talked to him, occasionally bringing her 
harp and playing and singing to him. Her uncles and her 
grandfather were his constant companions during the morn- 
ing and evening hours, and once there came into the room 
an old gray-haired man, who bent his head and kissed her as 
she sat in the chair by the wounded man’s side. 

“ My poor old father !” the girl said as he turned away, 
and for a moment she bowed her head and was silent. Turn- 
ing to Billingsley, she narrated to him the story told Ruther- 
ford by the old man in the cave. 

A month had elapsed since the young men had brought 
Billingsley to their home. He had so far recovered that he 
was able to sit up, and one autumnal evening, in the com- 
pany of the young girl, he walked out into the plaza in the 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 59 

center of the village. The air was balmy, and the view by 
which he was surrounded of that character as to impress him 
with feelings of deep gratitude to the Author of his being for 
the many manifestations of his goodness and mercy to him. 

Seated by the side of Isabella, he told her of his heart’s 
history and of the many trials that had beset his pathway 
in life. He described to her the home of his childhood in 
the far-off blue-grass regions of Kentucky on the banks of 
the Elkhorn, and of its inmates. He pictured to her mind the 
household, the fair sister that they had idolized, and a younger 
flaxen-haired brother, the Benjamin of the family. Then he 
spoke of his father and of his struggles in providing for his 
little household. 

Pausing for a moment, his eyes were lifted from the face of 
the girl, who had eagerly caught each sound that had fallen 
from his lips, and rested on the pinnacle of the western 
mountains, behind which the sun seemed quietly resting 
before he moved onward and downward into that dreary 
abyss of darkness where he was to bring the light of day. 

“ I have described to you,” he said, “ the dear old home of 
my boyhood, around which the tenderest associations of my 
life are centered ; of my father and my brother and my sis- 
ter; but how can I ever portray to your mind the image of 
her who, in all my wanderings, has been, as it were, a con- 
stant companion by my side, in sickness and in health, and 
in all the struggles and dangers that have beset my pathway — 
guardian angel, warding off dangers from foes both seen and 
unseen, and each day and hour my constant defense and pro- 
tection — my mother !” 


6o 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


He bowed his head upon his hands and was so long silent 
that Isabella, frightened by the dread apprehension that he 
might have died, caught him by the arm and tremblingly 
called his name. Sighing deeply, he raised his head, and 
after a short pause said, “ One June morning, six years ago, I 
wandered down the banks of the Elkhorn below our little 
farm, and seating myself beneath a tall maple that stood near 
the water I amused or rather tried to amuse myself in fishing. 
But somehow my heart was sad, and often my cork disap- 
peared and was carried into the stream by the fish without 
my noticing it. For several days my mind had been dis- 
turbed by some sad foreboding of impending evil. It is said 
that we have presentiments. Be that as it may, I am sure 
that my mind, always cheerful, seemed clouded those few 
days, and the sunshine, and the humming bees among the 
flowers of the w r oodbine which clustered over our door, and 
the bleating of the young lambs in the grassy meadow, and a 
hundred cheerful sights around the dear old farm failed to 
bring that quiet peace and contentment which it had never 
before failed to do. 

“ Hanging on the porch on a nail was an old horn, used 
only for the purpose of summoning my father or others of 
the family from the fields when needed about the house. It 
was frequently blown, and its familiar sound had often brought 
relief from the toils and labor of the farm. The summons 
was generally of a low, prolonged sound, but when any thing 
of importance had occurred it was often sharp and quick like 
the sound of the hunter’s horn calling the dogs off the hot 
chase. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


6l 


“ That day, sitting dreamily under the shadow of the old 
maple, I was aroused by the sharp, quick sound of the old 
horn, which in an instant was repeated, and then came a long, 
low, prolonged sound that seemed to be the faint echo of 
trouble at our dear old 'home. Without waiting for a second 
summons, I started up the road to the house. As I approached 
I knew from the stir within that something of more than an 
ordinary nature had occurred. Hastening on, I entered the 
gate near to the house, and was met by my sister, who threw 
her arms around my neck, sobbing convulsively, and so over- 
come that she could not speak. Releasing myself, I rushed 
into the house, and there on the bed with our father bending 
over her lay our mother. The folds of her white cap rested 
on her brow, beneath which her dark hair, streaked with 
threads of silver, was gently pushed back. ‘ Her right arm 
lay across her breast, and a quiet smile, such as the limner 
gives his angels, seemed to rest upon her countenance; but 
she was dead. 

“ How can I tell you of that agonizing day, as I came to 
and went from the silent bedchamber in which she lay so qui- 
etly resting? And when they came and bore her precious 
form away, and we silently, with bursting hearts and stream- 
ing eyes, followed down to the old church-yard, where in the 
shadow of that temple erected to God, and in which for so 
many years she had worshiped, we laid her down to sleep — ” 
He stopped speaking, and Isabella, weeping, laid her head on 
the back of the seat, and the heart of Billingsley bled anew 
at the recital of his mother’s death. 

Seemingly communing with himself rather than narrating 


62 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


the sad story to his companion, he continued, “ For several 
years she had suffered from heart disease, and that sad morn- 
ing, while standing at her bedside with my sister seated near 
her, arranging some work, she laid her head upon the pillow, 
and like an infant in its slumbers her soul quietly passed 
away. The screams of my sister brought my father into the 
room, and my younger brother, in his fright, had sounded 
the alarm which summoned me to the house. 

“ For several months after my mother’s death I tried to 
work on the old farm ; but, heart-sore, one morning I turned 
my face away from those once hallowed scenes, and with a 
party of adventurers struck out for the Ohio River, deter- 
mined to seek our fortunes in the far South. 

“At one time I taught a small school in Louisiana, but 
becoming disgusted at this quiet, humdrum kind of existence, 
I went to New Orleans, and you will be surprised when I tell 
you I was for several years engaged with a company of des- 
perate fellows in evading the revenue. In other words, we 
were smugglers.” 

The words had scarcely passed his lips before Isabella 
sprang to her feet, and with a startled appearance looked 
down upon him. 

Billingsley, as he watched the effect that this disclosure had 
made upon her, regretted that he had told her so much of 
his history, and for the first time his heart beat rapidly at the 
thought that she would henceforth look upon him with dis- 
gust instead of that pitying expression that had so contin- 
ually rested upon her countenance as she stood by his couch 
of pain and suffering. It was but the first faint impression of 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 63 

a passion that eventually absorbed his entire nature, and that 
had made the beautiful Isabella the shrine at which he wor- 
shiped with all the idolatry of his soul. 

“ One night,” he said, “ as we passed up the Barataria with 
a load of contraband goods, and our oars muffled, and steal- 
ing silently under the shadow of the banks fringed with grass 
and willow, we saw a boat in the gloom ahead of us. Turn- 
ing our prow in an opposite direction — for we were sure it 
was a revenue boat — we soon heard the command given in a 
loud voice to ‘ heave to.’ Without heeding the summons, we 
bent ourselves to the oars, and our boat shot rapidly forward. 
The next signal to stop belched forth from several guns, but 
fortunately we had either gotten beyond their range or they 
were firing at random in the darkness of the night. The 
echo from their guns had hardly subsided before a blaze of 
light streaming across the bay disclosed us to another boat 
just ahead of us. Presuming that we were surrounded by 
the enemy, and escape was impossible in our boat, we headed 
her to the shore, determined to abandon her. As we shot 
under the willows we could hear the deep splash of oars in 
our wake, and then another volley of fire-arms. They too were 
firing at random, but the flash of their guns disclosed to us 
their position. Our boat was laden with bales of merchan- 
dise consisting of silks and woolen goods, and not caring for 
them to fall into the hands of the officers, and having given 
up all hope of saving them, we quietly lifted them over the 
side of the boat and let them down into the water. They 
immediately sank, and abandoning the boat, either by swim- 
ming or wading we made our way through the morass, 


6 4 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


and, gaining the shore, we struck across the country to 
New. Orleans. 

“ Eventually tired of this hazardous life — for the revenue 
officers had become more vigilant— I determined to leave 
New Orleans, and one morning with two of our gang I struck 
out for Texas. 

“A few months afterward I joined Rutherford’s company 
of Rangers.” 

It was late that evening before Billingsley and the young 
girl returned to the hacienda. That night she narrated to 
her uncles and grandfather that part of Billingsley’s story rel- 
ative to his connection with the Barataria smugglers. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


65 


CHAPTER VIII. 

After crossing the Rio Grande, Rutherford was informed 
by a scout of the movements of the enemy, and, having 
determined to report the matter to General Houston, moved 
with his command rapidly over the prairie. Passing down a 
ravine, they crossed a small stream skirted with woods, and 
had just begun to ascend the elevated plateau, when they 
beheld in the distance a company of horsemen, supposed by 
Rutherford and his men to be a scouting party of Mexican 
Lancers. 

Withdrawing his men under the shadow of the forest trees, 
Rutherford rode along the brow of the hill reconnoitering 
their movements. Being satisfied as to their identity, and 
that they were moving in a direction toward him, he with- 
drew his men deeper into the forest, and dismounting, cau- 
tiously and on foot, with his entire command, except eight to 
hold their horses, approached the edge of the prairie. 

Secreting themselves in the chaparral and prairie grass, 
they silently awaited the approach of the Mexican horsemen, 
some fifty odd strong. Dashing along in a reckless, harum- 
scarum way, they advanced within fifty yards of the Rangers 
before they became aware of their presence. Rising from 
the long grass with rifles cocked, at the word of command 
given by Rutherford they poured into the Mexican troopers 
a volley of hot lead which sent them screaming and yelling 
across the prairie. Without pausing to count the number slain, 


66 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


the command “ To horse !” was given, and the men made a 
rush for them. Mounting, they rode up and looked over the 
prairie at the flying troopers. 

Aware that they were only a scouting party from the main 
army, Rutherford thought it prudent to retire his men across 
the ravine and make an oblique advance movement. It was 
well he did, for he had not crossed the stream and advanced 
very far upon the other side of the ravine before he saw a 
regiment of lancers deploying across the prairie at the point 
at which he had just fired into the Mexican scouts. 

Rutherford discovered that troops of Mexican soldiers were 
scouring the country in almost every direction. Several times 
during the next twelve hours he found it necessary to avoid 
being brought into contact with them by changing his course. 

The fourth night after crossing the Rio Grande he went 
into camp with his men in the Colorado bottom. 

The next morning, leaving his colnmand with his lieuten- 
ant, Rutherford with two men reported to General Houston’s 
camp. 

It was determined in a council of war that evening that 
Captain Rutherford should return to the States and arouse 
the sympathy of its citizens in behalf of Texas, poor, down- 
trodden, and under tlie heel of the merciless Mexicans, whose 
armies were now traversing the country, burning villages, mur- 
dering its citizens, and reducing into worse than bondage this 
fair land — a lone star in the western horizon, over which the 
lowering clouds were gathering and burying its rays forever 
in a night of eternal darkness. 

The next morning Rutherford returned to his command 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 6 7. 

and made known to them the decision of the council of war 
and the instructions given him by General Houston. 

It was a sad blow to these gallant Rangers to bid adieu, 
even for a short time, to their beloved commander. But the 
fate of Texas hung in the balance, and her feeble army must 
be recruited. Never did a country send forth a man whose 
whole soul seemed so enlisted in its behalf as was Rutherford 
in the fate of Texas. 

Bidding adieu to his comrades, he wended his way up the 
river to the place where his beloved wife still resided with 
her Kentucky friends. 

It had been two months since Rutherford bade adieu to 
his wife and started on his western adventures, and during 
that time he had received no tidings from her. The second 
evening after leaving his command he came in sight of the 
river, and only a few miles above him was the home where 
his darling wife resided. Never did the few intervening miles 
seem so long as he dashed forward on his noble Romeo. The 
sun was just setting as he stood upon the brow of the hill over- 
looking the little farm that lay nestled in the river valley, and 
near which, at the edge of the prairie, he could see the smoke 
as it curled from the cottage of his friends. For a moment 
he paused overlooking the beautiful landscape, and his heart 
leaped with joy at the anticipation of meeting his young wife. 
And then there came stealing across his mind the direful 
thought that he might not find her alive. The very idea so 
appalled him that he struck the rowels deep into his horse’s 
side. The horse plunged down into the river, and was ascend- 
ing the opposite bank before his master could collect his scat- 


68 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


tered senses. As he wended his way across the little farm, a 
loud neigh from a horse behind a clump of bushes startled 
both horse and rider, and the beautiful cream-colored mare 
of his wife came dashing up to them. The family at the 
house, attracted by the neighing of the mare, came out on 
the porch and beheld the horseman as he dashed on over 
the farm. 

Whatever doubts Rutherford may have had in regard to his 
wife were now dissipated, as he beheld her moving rapidly to 
the gate through which he had already passed, and throwing 
himself from his horse the two were soon wrapped in each 
others’ arms. 

That night, with his wife leaning on his knee, and sur- 
rounded by his friends, he told them of his remarkable adven- 
tures, and of the decision of the council of war and the in- 
structions of General Houston to proceed at once to New 
Orleans, and thence to Kentucky and Tennessee, and arouse 
the people in behalf of Texas and urge the enlistment of 
brave hearts and willing hands — men who were ready to lay 
down their lives in assisting to drive the invader from the soil. 

Perhaps there is no country in the world where the climate 
is so variable as it is in Texas. In the morning the sun may 
shine with all the genial warmth of a spring day, and before 
noon the wind comes sweeping over the prairies as if blown 
from the heart of an iceberg, and the evening closes with the 
atmosphere of a dreary winter. 

The next morning after Rutherford’s arrival at the home of 
his friends one of these northern blasts came sweeping over 
the country, and toward evening the snow-flakes began to 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 69 

drift over the prairies, and before nightfall the ground was 
covered with white. It was a beautiful sight to a Kentucky 
girl, and Kate Rutherford bantering her husband for a snow- 
ball, the two went out in front of the house and pelted each 
other merrily with the snow. There were two young ladies 
at Mr. Ashwood’s house on a visit to his only daughter Julia, 
and that evening two young men had called. As Rutherford 
and his wife piled the snow upon each other, making the clear 
evening atmosphere echo with their merry peals of laughter, 
the contest became so furious that the three other ladies 
rushed out to the rescue of Kate, and the young men fol- 
lowed. 

“ Four to three, girls,” Kate gleefully exclaimed as she 
piled the snow over the head and shoulders of her husband, 
who tripped and had fallen. The other girls, perceiving the 
advantage Kate had over her husband, turned against the two 
young men, who had backed Rutherford. 

Shouting and screaming, with the balls flying, the girls 
pressed the men back, giving them blow after blow in such 
rapid succession that at last they made a rush to the house, 
and, entering it, closed the door after them. 

“ Come out, you cowards !” the girls laughingly exclaimed. 
But the boys had locked the door, and as the girls stood trem- 
bling, with fingers aching, looking through the window at the 
bright light which blazed upon the hearth, they at length 
ceased their bantering and began to plead for admittance. 

Shivering with cold, and the door not opening, the girls 
began to pile the snow on each other. Again the balls flew, 
and the girls in their desperation. fought from the gallery into 

6 


70 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

the yard and back again until, completely exhausted, the door 
was opened, and the contestants made a rush for the fire. 
Blue with cold, and with fingers aching, they almost cried. 

“ Cowards only cry,” Rutherford said to his wife, as she 
bent over the fire wringing her hands. 

“Oh, you get out!” she retorted; “you ran. The idea of 
a soldier and the captain of a company of gallant Rangers 
* to be put to flight by a girl ! I think your company ought to 
have you court-martialed for cowardice.” 

Kate’s retort was followed by loud peals of laughter from 
the girls, who, forgetting their aching fingers, went romping 
through the house. 

The next evening Rutherford and his wife and the family 
and inmates of Mr. Ashwood’s household had an invitation 
to attend the marriage of one of their neighbor’s daughters. 

The farm of John Smith, whose daughter Mary was to be 
married that night, was about two miles off. Rutherford 
mounted on his horse, with Kate on her fleet cream-colored 
mare, led the way, followed by the two young men and the 
three girls, all on horseback. When they arrived at the house 
they found quite a number of persons assembled. Dismount- 
ing and hitching their horses, they entered the house. At the 
door they were met by Mr. Smith, who escorted them into a 
large room in which were a number of guests. In the broad 
fireplace great logs were piled, sending forth a glowing heat 
and diffusing a warmth throughout the room. 

Sitting near the fire, with broad shoulders and a genial 
countenance, and long hair streaked with gray, was the offi- 
ciating clergyman, the Methodist circuit rider. Wherever 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 7 1 

civilization advances, and even beyond its confines, away 
among the pioneers of the West, where the echo of social life 
has never stifled the war whoop of the savage or suppressed 
the scream of the wild beasts of the forest, away among the 
rude cabins of the settlers, or wandering through the bayous 
and lagoons by day, and resting upon the ground with saddle- 
bags as a pillow by night, drenched by the pelting rains of 
winter, and fevered by the hot, miasmatic sun in summer, 
regardless of ease and comfort to himself, but adminstering 
to the wants and sufferings of others, we find these pious men 
of God, the Methodist circuit riders. 

The young bride, plainly dressed, leaning on the arm of 
the groom, and followed by her parents, entered the room. 
Rising from his seat by the fire, the minister for a moment 
bent his head, then raising his eyes toward the ceiling said in 
a most impressive tone, “ Let us all kneel and pray.” The 
prayer was short, but the impression made upon the mind 
of Rutherford was as if it was seared with a hot iron. Ris- 
ing from the floor, the beautiful ceremony uniting two fond 
hearts was said, and the young couple were pronounced man 
and wife, followed by the many congratulations of their assem- 
bled friends. If the ceremony, beautiful and impressive as it 
was, had made an impression on the assembled guests, what 
shall we say of the supper to which they were soon invited ? 

There were no tall and stately pyramids of cake, iced and 
fringed and capped with images of the bridal couple, the bride 
in flowing white veil and orange blossoms, nor was the room 
festooned with flowers, filling the air with their delightful fra- 
grance. 


72 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

On a long table stretched diagonally across the room, spread 
with a cloth white as the mantle which covered the earth with- 
out, were placed the roast wild turkey and the once quacking 
duck, and pies made from the tenderloin of the timid deer, 
while at the head of the table, resting on his four feet, with a 
baked potato in his mouth, stood the inevitable grunting pig. 
Surrounding these winged birds and four-footed animals, 
made ready for the feast, were the yellow pumpkin pies, the 
potato pies, and a harvest of sweet cakes and crullers and 
pound cakes. It was a wedding to which the guests had all 
assembled without excuse, and merrily did they partake of 
the good things set before them. 

After supper the young folks gathered in the large room 
where the ceremony had been performed, and played and 
romped until the night was far advanced. Rutherford and 
his wife were the leading spirits in all these innocent pas- 
times, giving confidence to the timid youth, encouraging the 
shy and bashful maidens, and making all things merry as a 
marriage bell. 

The day after the wedding Rutherford made preparation 
for his start to the States, the bad weather only detaining him 
from an immediate departure. 

The highways through which the pioneers advanced into 
these far-off regions of the West were not cut up with roads. 
Here and there were trails through the prairies and blazed 
trees through the forest, marking out a beaten pathway, over 
which the foot of the white man pressed out the moccasin 
prints of the red man, the lighter impressions of the panther, 
and the heavy tread of the ferocious bear. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


73 


The curling smoke from the rude cabins of the settlers, the 
echo of the woodman’s ax as he felled the large trees of the 
forest, the deep-mouthed but musical notes of the hunter’s 
hounds, and the lowing of the herds were the only indica- 
tions of advanced civilization in these boundless and almost 
limitless regions of this great western empire. 

Rutherford and his wife, as they traversed this wild region 
on their return to the States, felt the deep loneliness of their 
situation, and for several hours would ride along without 
uttering a word. 

“To-morrow night, my little pet,” said Rutherford, as they 
forded a small stream and advanced on the opposite bank, 
“ we will reach Natchitoches, and if we are in luck and get 
a boat we shall arrive at New Orleans by the latter part of 
the week.” 

Moving through the depths of the forest, they looked back 
upon the western sky, now overcast with dark clouds, and 
heard the wind as it whistled with a direful sound through the 
leafless branches of the trees. The night was approaching, 
and Kate pressed her horse close by the side of her husband’s 
as the two moved rapidly through the open forest. 

“ Bob, it would be terrible to camp out such a night, as I 
fear we shall have to do,” said his wife. 

“ I hope we shall not be so unfortunate,” said her husband, 
moving their horses into a canter, as if they would push ahead 
of the approaching storm, which now seemed to gather in 
thicker volume in their rear. At length they came to a halt, 
appalled by a terrific sound which seemed the direful groan 
of dissolving nature. The horses stood trembling as the hor- 


74 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

rid sound increased, and the dark clouds, as Rutherford and 
his wife looked back upon them, had assumed a greenish 
hue. The wind had ceased to blow, and an oppressive still- 
ness had settled over the great forest. In front of them the 
wild scream of a panther broke in upon the distressing qui- 
etude of their surroundings, and the horses trembled and 
squatted as if they would dash away into the darkness. Now 
the dark belt became a streaming fire, and the howling wind 
resolved itself into the remorseless and insatiate cyclone, 
swallowing up every thing in its path, tearing and twisting 
the great forest trees from the ground, and sweeping them 
through the viewless air, and roaring and raging, as onward 
it swept in its desolating course. The wreck was perhaps a 
half mile above them. A few moments after it passed the 
same oppressive stillness seemed to hang over them and per- 
meate the atmosphere. Then a few heavy drops of rain fell, 
and behind the dark cloud, which rapidly passed away, a 
bright streak settled over the western horizon, the last faint 
impression of the sun, which had just settled itself behind 
the western forest. 

“ Bob,” said his wife, trembling more violently than the 
beautiful animal upon which she sat, “how thankful we 
should be for this divine protection over us!” 

Her husband was silent, but if she could have beheld his 
face turned from her she might have seen his lips moving 
silently. At length he answered her with a husky voice. 
“ My angel of light,” he said, and reaching over he patted her 
on the cheek. 

The horses, still trembling, moved on amid the deep silence 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 75 

of the forest. The storm had passed from the southwest to 
the northeast. Rutherford and his wife’s bearing was toward 
the east; hence they were moving away from the dismantled 
forest, which might otherwise have impeded their progress. 
Night had now set in, and the travelers were surrounded by 
darkness. The country was open, but Rutherford perceived 
that it would be dangerous to proceed much farther. Halt- 
ing for a moment, he thought he heard the barking of a dog. 
It may have been the howl of a wolf. Raising his voice, he 
gave a loud halloo. Echoing through the forest, the sound 
died away amid its impressive stillness. They stood and list- 
ened, and again the sound, like that of the distant baying of 
a dog, seemed to break upon their hearing. “ Halloo !” Ruth- 
erford again yelled, so loud that the horses were startled and 
stood shivering. Back of them came a low cry as of a child 
in distress, ending in the wild scream of a panther. 

At length, winding through the forest like the echo of 
an old and familiar strain, the sound of a huntsman’s horn 
cheered the belated travelers. Never was a sound more wel- 
come. Moving cautiously along, they beheld in the distance 
a broad belt of light, and, approaching, discovered an open- 
ing in the forest, and soon entered a small prairie. As they 
moved across it the sound of the horn was once more heard, 
and they turned up a little in the direction whence it came. 
At the edge of the prairie they beheld a light streaming 
through the darkness. It proceeded from a farm-house, and 
as they approached several persons were seen moving about. 
It was a cheerful sight to Kate Rutherford, tired from the 
journey and almost overcome by the strain her mind had 


76 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


endured for the last hour. Riding up, Rutherford called to 
the men, who came out to meet them. With a hearty wel- 
come and a request to alight, Rutherford dismounted from 
his horse, and his wife sprang from her saddle into his arms 
and was placed upon the ground. A lady came to the door 
and invited her in, and her husband went with the men 
to stable and fed their horses. After a hearty supper they 
retired to rest, and had a sweet and refreshing sleep. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


77 


CHAPTER IX. 

That part of Billingsley’s story relative to his connection 
with the Barataria smugglers, as narrated to the Alcaide and 
his two sons by Isabella, created a profound sensation in the 
breasts of her auditors. The next morning the wounded 
lieutenant was invited into a room in which sat the Alcaide 
and his two sons. In front of the three men was a small table 
covered with a dark velvet cloth, on which a heart was most 
artistically embroidered with red silk floss, and pointing to- 
ward it, wrought with the same material, but of a steel gray 
color, a naked sword. Under the heart was stitched, in small 
capital letters, the word “ silence .” As Billingsley entered the 
room, and his eye rested upon the cloth with its cabalistic 
inscription, he turned suddenly pale and his knees trembled. 
For a moment there was silence, broken at length by the 
Alcaide, who addressed Billingsley in these words : 

“ My son, our daughter has related to us your confession 
as to your connection with the Barataria smugglers, a band 
of as heroic freebooters (for they are so called) as ever banded 
together to defraud a government out of a revenue as unjust 
and oppressive as the tax which the English fathers would 
have imposed upon their younger American offspring. It is 
unnecessary for me to call your attention to these insignia 
wrought upon this dark background, or to renew to you the 
oath once taken.” 

He stopped speaking, and Billingsley, lowering his head, 


78 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

repeated in a tremulous voice the word upon which his eyes 
seemed riveted, “ Silence.” 

“ May it ever remain inviolate,” the Alcaide said, rising from 
his seat, and taking Billingsley by the hand moved toward 
the door. The two sons followed. 

Going through a long, low passage, the men entered a gar- 
den at the rear of the house, and moved along through an 
arbor trellised with grape-vines into a grove. Pulling out his 
watch, the Alcaide pointed out to Billingsley a place or rather 
lookout at the summit of the distant mountain. To a casual 
observer it would have seemed but a short way off. To 
those, however, who are accustomed to compute distance 
across these valleys from point to point, it was evident that 
the projecting rock was at least five miles away. 

The sun was shining brightly, and the point to which the 
men’s attention seemed to be directed stood out in bold 
relief. 

At ten o’clock the Alcaide said, pointing across the 
valley, and Billingsley beheld through a large telescope a 
great eagle that seemed to perch on the projecting rock. 
For a moment he stretched himself to his full height and then 
raised both wings, as if he would sail away into the invisible 
ether and bathe himself in an atmosphere where only the 
storm cloud soars, bearing in its bosom the secret place of 
the thunder and the lightning. Lowering his wings, he thrice 
stretched them, and again folded them to his sides. Rising 
once more, he stretched one wing toward the south, as if 
he would bathe himself in the morning sunlight, and then 
stepped back into his mountain eyrie and was lost to the 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 79 

sight of those who for several moments had been watching 
him perched upon the mountain summit. 

Billingsley understood not its significance. Turning to his 
sons, the Alcaide said, “ They are coming, and it is necessary 
that we should keep a sharp lookout. I learned yesterday 
that Ruperto, that noted Mexican bandit, had been informed 
of the advance of our men through the mountains. He has 
a strong force with him, and should he make his appearance 
we will have to accomplish by strategy what we might do 
otherwise were our arms stronger.” 

Returning to the house, Billingsley, whose wounds were 
yet unhealed, was instructed as to the signals to be observed 
from the mountain summit. At ten and at two o’clock the 
Alcaide said, “ The eagle you observed a while since will make 
his appearance on the mountain crag. *The slowly lifting of 
his wings three times, as if preparing for flight, means all is 
well. Flapping them suddenly indicates danger; and you 
will keep a sharp lookout, for you will be intrusted with the 
one above all others that our hearts are mostly interested in, 
our darling daughter Isabella.” 

“ I am to understand, then,” said Billingsley, “ that the 
eagle is not a reality.” 

“ No,” said the Alcaide, “it is one of our men, who has so 
fashioned himself into the representation of this wild bird of 
the mountain that it would be impossible for any one from a 
distance to detect the illusion. At night at the point where 
the eagle sat you will observe a light resembling a star, and 
as long as it shines all is safe. When it disappears, if the 
night is clear, there is danger, and you will be guided by the 


So 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


instructions of Isabella. Obey them implicitly if you would 
not forfeit the high esteem in which you are held by her 
friends and those who think her dearer than life itself.” 

Billingsley had now been an inmate of the hacienda for 
nearly two months, and his wound, though not healed, had 
so improved that he could stir around the most of the day 
without any inconvenience from it. But severe exercise was 
not to be thought of ; hence, in preparing for a trip into the 
mountains to render assistance, if necessary, to the men who 
were bearing the merchandise across the country into the 
States, the Alcaide had determined to intrust Isabella to his 
keeping, knowing him to be bound by an oath that to violate 
would bring upon him the vengeance of every daring smug- 
gler upon the Gulf and Atlantic coast. Besides, the Alcaide 
and his sons had formed quite an attachment to him. 

Calling Isabella into his presence, he told her of the neces- 
sity of the men at the village accompanying him and his two 
sons into the mountains. “ My daughter, keep a sharp look- 
out for the signal, and be governed by it. I leave you in the 
keeping of Lieutenant Billingsley. You will direct him what 
course to pursue if you are at any time warned of danger.” 

The horses had been saddled and brought in front of the 
hacienda. Across the plaza, and at a point where the road 
wound up to the village, a company of about forty mounted 
men awaited the movements of the Alcaide and his two sons. 
In the plaza, grouped together, talking rather jocularly, were 
several women; four or five men stood talking to those on 
horseback, and some children were romping near them, seem- 
ingly unconscious as to the confusion existing in the village. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


8l 


It was near the hour of two, and the Alcaide, accompanied 
by Billingsley, had approached the spot where they had ob- 
served the signals from the mountain summit at ten o’clock. 
They were not detained long, for precisely at the hour of two 
the great eagle moved out on the projecting rock and thrice 
stretched his wings above him. “All is well,” said the Alcaide. 
As they gazed upon the bird through their telescopes he raised 
one wing, and slowly turning around let it drop by his side. 

“ They have arrived at the rendezvous,” said the Alcaide, 
“ and it is necessary that we should at once proceed thither. 
You will keep a sharp lookout,” the Alcaide said, turning to 
Billingsley. “ You will remember that the night has its ter- 
rors more frequently than the day.” 

The two men returned to the hacienda, and were met by 
Isabella and the two sons, who were informed of the signals 
given. The men in front of the hacienda holding the horses 
were to remain with Isabella and Billingsley. All things 
being in readiness, the Alcaide, accompanied by his two sons 
and Isabella and Billingsley, approached the horses. Isa- 
bella stood by her grandfather, who bent his head and kissed 
her. Mounting his horse, he called Billingsley to his side, 
and, stooping, whispered to him. 

“ It shall be strictly attended to,” was the response, and 
the two men grasped each others’ hands. In the mean time 
the two young men had bade adieu to their more than sister, 
and shaking Billingsley by the hand the three men moved 
away to join their companions, who stood waiting for them 
across the village plaza. 

Billingsley and Isabella crossed the plaza and stood watch- 


82 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


ing the men as they moved down the road toward the prairie. 
Reaching the base of the hill, the men turned to the right, 
and were soon lost to the view of those who were watching 
them from the village. Those accompanying the Alcaide were 
armed with muskets, and including his two sons were forty- 
two in number. They filed around the base of the mountain, 
and crossing the river directed their course to the point 
where the signals had been given. They were now in a val- 
ley, over which spread the luxuriant mesquite grass. Follow- 
ing the bend of the river, they proceeded about three miles 
and then struck into the mountains, pursuing a beaten path 
over which hung large vines filled with muscal grapes. 
The sun had settled down behind the mountains as they 
approached the base whose projecting point overshadowed 
the rendezvous of the smugglers. 

On a level piece of ground, under the trees, were the camp- 
fires of the men who had arrived that evening. The mus- 
tang ponies, trained to the service, had been turned loose, 
and were browsing on the luxuriant mesquite grass in the val- 
ley, a mile away. Thither the horses of the Alcaide’s men 
were driven after their arrival at the camp. 

A short distance above the camp is a small opening lead- 
ing into a cave, in which the bales of merchandise were 
stored. The mouth of the cave was so arranged that by 
moving a log above the entrance the loose rock came tum- 
bling down, effectually closing it. 

The Alcaide and his men were warmly received by those at 
the rendezvous, and gathering in groups related to them their 
adventurous trip since leaving the coast. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 83 

Half a mile away to the south a picket stood, and far above 
him on the projecting point a light in the shape of a star glim- 
mered in the darkness of the night. Its rays streamed across 
the valley, and Isabella and Lieutenant Billingsley sat on a 
rustic bench back of the hacienda, and watching its feeble 
glimmer talked of their friends away in the depths of the 
mountains. 

The blue vault of heaven was filled with stars, and across 
the broad arch the milky way stretched itself above them. 
Far to the west the evening star glimmered, and to their right 
the Great Bear was set in the infinity of space. They talked 
of the Chaldean shepherds as they rested upon the mountain 
side and beheld that star arise which was to bring peace and 
joy to the world — the star that led the wise men of the East 
to the place of Christ’s nativity, and the offerings there made 
to the babe of Bethlehem, whose death was to be a propitia- 
tion for the sins of the whole earth. 

Once as they sat and talked the signal seemed to vanish, 
and Isabella in her fright screamed aloud ; but it was only 
momentary, and again the feeble, flickering light came 
dancing over the valley. It was late when, leaving the 
watchman at his post, Lieutenant Billingsley and Isabella 
returned to the hacienda. 

The night passed quietly away, and the signal light con- 
tinued to burn until obscured by the broad streaks of gray 
that belted the eastern sky — harbingers of the approaching 
day. How glad Isabella was to see the sun, as its rays pene- 
trated her room through the window, and all things seemed 
to be at rest. The night had passed away and no alarm had 


84 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

been given. Their friends were safe, and rising she bowed 
before the crucifix, and repeating her devotions made the 
sign of the cross. Her grandfather, a converted Jew, had 
married a Catholic lady, and Isabella had been brought up 
in the faith of her mother by her nurse, in whose charge she 
had been placed at her mother’s death. 

The next morning at ten o’clock Isabella and Billingsley 
sat watching the approach of the great signal bird from the 
mountain eyrie. The two were thrown into a state of the 
greatest alarm as they beheld the bird stretch his wings and 
flap them rapidly three times and then disappear. 

“ There is something wrong,” Isabella said in rather a trem- 
ulous voice, “ and it behooves us to obey the instructions of 
my grandfather. As the danger seems to be near them,” she 
continued, “ we will have ample time to make the prepara- 
tion necessary to our flight.” 

Returning to the hacienda, she summoned Donnorega, her 
governess and nurse, and the two began arranging things for 
any emergency that might occur. 

The men and women in the village understood the signifi- 
cance of the alarm, and they too began moving about in a 
hurried way, indicating the necessity of a prompt movement 
on their part should the threatened danger become imminent. 

The alarm given from the mountain crag was not only to 
warn those in the village, but was to notify the men at the 
rendezvous of the impending danger. The man on the look- 
out had detected the advance of Ruperto and his men, and 
had given the hasty alarm, knowing the necessity of a prompt 
movement on the part of the smugglers. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


85 

The Alcaide at once gave instructions for the displacement 
of the log that held back the loose rock and dirt over the 
mouth of the cave. As the men turned the end of the log 
down, a perfect avalanche of stone descended, and the mouth 
of the cave was as effectually concealed as if the mountain 
contained no hollow womb bearing the burthen of the rich 
bales of merchandise that had been deposited within its dark 
recess by the smugglers. 

Ruperto, the daring chieftain in command of a hundred 
men, was well known to the smugglers, they having been 
chased by him before. After effectually concealing the goods 
the men betook themselves to the mountain. Clambering 
over the rock and the stunted growth that covered its side, 
they ascended to a point where they could overlook the val- 
ley. Riding in advance of his men they beheld Ruperto, 
who seemed to be directing his course toward the rendez- 
vous. The ponies of the Alcaide and his men and the smug- 
glers were herding together and grazing along the banks of 
the river. As Ruperto and his men advanced they raised 
their heads, and snuffing the air galloped off in an opposite 
direction. The robbers, supposing them to be a herd of wild 
Camanche ponies, paid no attention to their movements. 
Not so with the Alcaide and his men. They had watched the 
movement of the herd with a great deal of solicitude, and as 
they saw them take the alarm and gallop off, the Alcaide said 
to his men that he hoped they would bear to the right and 
make for the prairies, which stretched themselves into an 
almost limitless expanse beyond the river. 

Much to the gratification of the smugglers, Ruperto and 
7 


86 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


his freebooters turned to the right, and, fording the river, 
directed their course toward the prairie. 

Isabella had been notified by her grandfather that, should 
the alarm be given, it would be repeated every hour as long 
as the danger threatened the village. It was now near the 
hour of noon, and Isabella and her friends, having made 
every preparation for an immediate departure, stood watch- 
ing the mountain crag ready to leave should the alarm be 
repeated. The man on the lookout, perceiving the direction 
taken by Ruperto and his men, and that the village was threat- 
ened, once more gave the alarm. Isabella instantly turned to 
Billingsley and her nurse and requested them to follow her. 
Entering the hacienda, they took such’ things as they would 
need, and crossing the plaza moved down the road to the 
base of the hill, and turning to the left directed their course 
to the beautiful cascade that waved and sparkled in the sun- 
light and sent forth a deep, sullen roar as the waters emptied 
themselves into the rocky basin beneath. Behind this wall 
of waters was a place of refuge for the women and the chil- 
dren of the village, and thither the most of them had gone 
at the first signal of danger. 

Two or three women accompanied Isabella, Billingsley, 
and her nurse to the cave. The men had remained in the 
village. Entering the cave through the veil that spread itself 
between the two great sheets of water that emptied them- 
selves from above, they found the women and children who 
had preceded them in a state of the greatest alarm. 

In the mean time Ruperto and his gang, having entered the 
prairie, directed their course north and toward the village. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 87 

The Alcaide, perceiving the danger that threatened their homes, 
immediately descended the mountain to the rendezvous, and 
two of the men, moving round the ponies, soon had them 
corraled. The Alcaide and his men, bestriding their horses, 
rode around the base of the mountain, and entering the val- 
ley moved in a parallel direction with Ruperto toward the 
village. The distance taken by the robbers was twice as great 
as that pursued by the Alcaide and his men. Rushing rapidly 
ahead, the Alcaide and his followers crossed the river and 
ascended the hill toward their homes as Ruperto and his 
men turned an angle in the prairie which for half an hour 
had hid them from the view of the men remaining in the vil- 
lage. The robbers were now perhaps a mile off, and were 
directing their course toward the village. The force under 
the command of the Alcaide, including the smugglers who had 
joined them at the rendezvous and the men who had been left 
in the village, increased their strength to seventy-five effective 
men. There was but one approach to the village, and the 
Alcaide had posted his men to guard this entrance, determined 
to give the brigands, should they make an attack on the vil- 
lage, a warm reception. Advancing near to the hill and per- 
ceiving that the road leading up to the village was guarded 
by a force that seemed equal to his own, and that an attempt 
to charge them would place him and his men at great disad- 
vantage, Ruperto determined to reconnoiter the situation, 
hoping that some point might be left unguarded that he 
might successfully attack. For several hours he rode around 
the base of the hill, and at one time halted near to the cas- 
cade, where they remained for more than an hour, resting 


88 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


themselves and viewing the beautiful sheet of water. The 
Alcaide and his men looked down upon them in the greatest 
alarm, determined to charge them if they should descend 
toward the waterfall. The robbers, however, did not for a 
moment suppose that behind the beautiful sheet of water the 
families of the besieged villagers were concealed. 

Despairing of a successful attack, late in the evening Ru- 
perto and his troop turned their horses’ heads to the south 
and rode away. During the night the men at the village kept 
a close watch, anticipating a night attack. 

The next morning the brigands were nowhere to be seen, 
and at ten o’clock the great eagle from the mountain crag 
thrice stretched and folded his wings. 

There was great rejoicing at the village that evening as 
Isabella and those accompanying her returned to their homes 
and found that the danger which had threatened their peace 
and happiness had entirely passed away. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER X. 

Kentucky, whose “ dark and bloody ground ” had been 
the scene of sanguinary strife between the early settlers and 
their savage foes — the land that Boone had claimed as an 
inheritance for the hardy pioneers from the East, and whose 
adventurous sons were ever ready to battle in the cause of 
human rights and human liberty — she too felt a thrill of 
righteous indignation at the horrible outrages being enacted 
in Texas, and her sons, taking from their racks the trusty 
rifle, and throwing upon their shoulders their powder-horns, 
went forth, and when the smoke of battle lifted itself from 
the ensanguined battle-fields along these western prairies, or 
through the sultry savannahs, their shouts were heard swell- 
ing the tide of victory, and their blood crimsoned the earth 
as a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. 

After Rutherford and his wife's arrival in New Orleans 
there were several private meetings held by the citizens, at 
which Rutherford was present and made a statement in re- 
gard to the condition of affairs in Texas, and the necessity for 
immediate aid. The result of these meetings was the enlist- 
ment of a number of men, who at once pushed forward for 
the seat of war. A few days afterward Rutherford and his 
wife took passage for Louisville. 

It was past midnight when the whistle blew for the landing 
at Vicksburg. Rutherford heard the signal given as the boat 
turned her prow toward the wharf, and he heard the gentle 


go . BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

breathing of his wife as she lay by his side quietly sleeping 
and unconscious of her proximity to a spot that had brought 
so much of agony and terror to her soul, and in the quiet of 
the night he thanked God that he had spared her so much 
of pain and sorrow that the recollection of the presence of 
the place would have given her. 

Rutherford had decided to go at once to Louisville, and 
thence to his wife’s home in the blue-grass regions of Ken- 
tucky. Leaving her there for a few weeks with her friends, 
he would call upon his countrymen for their assistance, and 
having aroused them to the necessity of immediate action 
would go to Tennessee, the homes of Houston and Crockett 
and others who were now offering up or had already offered 
up their lives in the defense of their adopted country. 

The palatial steamers that now navigate the Mississippi 
and Ohio rivers were not, at the time of which we write, to 
be seen on these Western waters, making a trip from New 
Orleans to St. Louis or Louisville in five or six days. It took 
more than two weeks for a steamer to go from New Orleans 
to Louisville. In those days, however, the country was not 
cut up with a network of railways, and the travel between 
the northern and southern sections of the country was done 
on boats. A steamer leaving New Orleans for the up-country, 
as it was called, was generally crowded with passengers, and 
the trip, though slow and monotonous as to scenery, was 
lively enough, those on board vieing with each other in mak- 
ing the trip pleasant. 

There is no place which invites so much sociability as 
steamboat travel. Here the passengers are thrown together, 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 9 1 

with no source of amusement except that drawn from each 
other. 

The steamer on which Captain Rutherford and his wife 
took passage for Louisville was not a fast boat, but she was 
elegantly equipped and in the command of fine officers, who 
did every thing that lay in their power to make the trip pleas- 
ant and agreeable to the large number of passengers on board. 
After a pleasant trip of fourteen days, the boat landed at 
Shippingport, a few miles below Louisville, and at the foot of 
the Falls. Leaving the steamer, they proceeded up town in 
a hack, and took lodging at the hotel. 

Remaining in Louisville two days, during which time 
Rutherford was actively engaged in procuring recruits for 
the cause he represented, he took the stage, accompanied by 
his wife, for their home in the interior of the country. 

What a blessed thought it was to Kate Rutherford to know 
that she was going to the home of her childhood, and that she 
would soon be with her father and her friends! The very 
thought of meeting her dear old father so overcame her that 
she leaned her head on the shoulder of her husband and cried. 

“Why, my little pet,” said Rutherford as he heard the sobs 
of his wife, “ you are not crying because you are going home, 
are you ? Come, cheer up ! or our friends will think you are 
grieving over our return.” . 

Kate raised her head, and smiling through her tears said, 
“Well, it always did seem to me a foolish thing to cry for 
joy, and yet tears are unbidden guests, and when the heart is 
full the fountains of the great deep seem broken up, and the 
pent-up waters burst forth. Like those of Meribah, they may 


92 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

be often bitter when they should be sweet. But come they 
will, and they oftentimes wash away our grief and fill up the 
great fountains of our joy.” 

It was evening as they approached the little village under 
the hill, and near which was her father’s home. The horses, 
as they dashed along with the great rumbling stage-coach, 
seemed to gather strength as they neared the end of their 
journey, and the driver, taking his bugle, blew a long blast, 
and then striking a low key, as if he would smother the 
sound, raised it again sharp and quick, and the high and 
the low notes followed each other in quick succession, mak- 
ing the very hills and valleys echo with the cheerful music. 

Kate Rutherford, looking out of the window, clapped her 
hands with very joy as she beheld the old and familiar scenes 
of her childhood spread out before her. The sound of the 
stage -horn often roused up the citizens in the quiet little 
towns and villages, and as the heavy wheels rattled through 
the streets an eager crowd would gather at the office where it 
was first sure to stop to dispose of the mail, in order that 
they might catch sight of its occupants. That evening, con- 
trary to the long-established rule, the stage whirled through 
the town, and without halting entered the lane and directed 
its course to the residence of Mr. Cross, Kate Rutherford’s 
father. 

“ I wonder what old Sam Hastings means by that,” said 
several citizens who had gathered at the office, addressing 
Uncle Mack, the postmaster. 

“ The Lord knows !” said the old gentleman, taking off his 
spectacles and wiping them on his coat sleeve. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 93 

“That’s a high kick for a low cow,” said John I. Waxy, 
his colored deputy. 

“ It may be,” said Uncle Mack, “ that some of Parson Cross’s 
friends have come, but Hastings, who has been driving the 
stage for nearly twenty years, was never known to do this 
thing before. It’s agin the law,” the old gentleman said, 
“ for a driver to pass the post-office without first delivering 
his mail.” 

While this conversation was being carried on, the stage 
had disposed of its passengers and came rattling back, and 
whirling around at the post-office door came to a dead halt. 

“Who was that you carried up to Parson Cross’s?” asked 
Uncle Mack, as Hastings stooped and began throwing out 
the mail from under the seat. 

“Why, bless your dear life,” said he, rising up, “it was 
that blessed boy, Bob Rutherford, and sweet Miss Katie, his 
wife, God bless her! I promised the children that I would 
take them right on up home, as Miss Katie was nearly crazy 
to see her father.” 

The news soon spread through the town that Bob and his 
wife had returned home. Bob Rutherford, though a rollick- 
ing, harum-scarum fellow, was a great favorite with the folks 
through the town, and every one loved sweet Katie Cross, 
the old Methodist parson’s daughter. 

When the stage containing Rutherford and his wife drove 
up, Mr. Cross was out in front of the house. Seeing her 
father in the yard, as soon as the coach stopped she bounded 
out and almost flew to his side. The old gentleman recog- 
nized his child as she ran toward him, and opening his arms 


94 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


they were soon wrapped in each other’s embrace. Clinging 
around her father’s neck, she sobbed as if her heart would 
break. The old gentleman mingled his tears with those of 
his daughter. They were more the tears of joy than of sor- 
row. Turning from his daughter, as her husband approached 
he grasped him by the hand and extended him a hearty wel- 
come. 

That night quite a number of Rutherford and his wife’s 
friends called to see them. After they had gone, Kate’s father 
read a psalm, and, kneeling, offered thanks to his God for 
returning to him his children, and invoked his blessing upon 
them. When they arose from their knees Rutherford wiped 
the tears from his eyes. They were the first he had shed 
since the morning he mingled his with those of his wife at 
the home of Tom Johnson, after their flight from Vicksburg. 

For several days Rutherford remained among his friends; 
but the thought of his own brave boys left without their 
leader and the distressed condition of his adopted country 
so weighed upon his mind that he could not remain idle long. 
From letters received from General Houston he was informed 
of the enlisted men coming in and swelling their meager ranks 
that were now being pressed back by the enemy. More re- 
cruits, however, were needed. 

Going to Lexington in the company of two of his friends, 
he succeeded in rousing up quite a number of men, who 
struck across the country on horseback for Texas. Ruther- 
ford and his two friends accompanied them to Tennessee, 
and on the route the number increased until more than sev- 
enty-five men had swelled the ranks. At Nashville the 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 95 

troops remained two days. Rutherford staid in Tennessee 
two weeks, and from the number of men he succeeded in 
starting to Texas to join the army it would appear that his 
efforts met with unprecedented success. 

More than six weeks had elapsed since Rutherford had 
left his men in their encampment on the Colorado, and he 
became restless to join them once more and lead them against 
their enemy, and assist his friends in driving back the invader 
from Texas soil. 

Turning their faces homeward, Rutherford and his friend 
Tomlinson crossed Green River, and that night put up at a 
place called Bear Wallow. The next day the two men struck 
across the country, and night found them at the foot of Mul- 
draugh’s Hill, in one of the roughest, most barren, and most 
uninviting regions of Central Kentucky. 

The house at which they stopped that night was occupied 
by a tall, gray-haired man, perhaps sixty years old, his wife, 
and a very handsome girl not exceeding twenty years of age, 
a niece of the old gentleman. She had very large, express- 
ive, blue eyes, and when she talked they seemed to penetrate 
the very soul with an eager, restless look. After supper, 
when the family had drawn around the blazing hearth, and 
Rutherford and his friend had joined them, the girl, at first 
reticent, began a conversation with Rutherford by asking 
him his place of residence. He told her, and then related 
his business to her. She listened attentively, and seemed 
very much interested in the history he gave of the struggle 
in which he was engaged, and of the hardships which he and 
his men had encountered within the last six months. 


g6 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

Late that night two men with a small drove of horses 
stopped and staid till morning. They were on their way to 
Lexington. The next morning Rutherford and his friend 
joined them, and they started on their journey. 

About ten o’clock that day, as they came into the Leba- 
non road, they were met by two men, the younger a medium 
sized, handsome man, with a smooth face, giving him more 
the appearance of a boy. He was rather tidily dressed in a 
suit of dark jeans, which fitted his person with as much 
nicety as if it had been made by a fashionable tailor. He 
wore on his head a fur cap which came low down over his 
face, almost concealing his forehead. He was riding a dark 
chestnut-sorrel mare. 

After the traders had stopped, one of them began to ban- 
ter for a swap. Rutherford sat on his horse and listened to 
the two men as they discussed the respective merits of the 
young man’s mare, and one of the traders proposed swapping 
for her. One of the drovers was leading a pair of beautiful 
bays, and the young man turned to him after the two men 
found they could not agree upon a swap, and asked him how 
much he would take for the two horses he was leading. He 
said they were considered the finest pair of geldings in South- 
ern Kentucky, and he expected to get a thousand dollars for 
them in Lexington. The young man, who seemed to be a 
pretty good judge of horse-flesh, hooted at the idea, and 
began to point out several defects, showing him to be rather 
an expert in the art of horse-trading. The discussion was, 
however, brought to a close by the young man offering him 
nine hundred dollars for the pair, which was accepted. The 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 97 

young man drew from his pocket a wallet and gave the trader 
nine one-hundred-dollar bills. 

After leaving, Rutherford said to his friend that he had 
certainly met that young man before, but where he could not 
tell. As he talked to the trader Rutherford had more than 
once detected him looking intently at him, and as their eyes 
met would turn them away. 

The day after the sale they reached Lexington, and about 
two hours after arriving in town Rutherford met the two 
traders, who came up to him very much distressed, and told 
him that the nine one-hundred-dollar bills received from the 
young man for the pair of horses were pronounced to be 
counterfeit. 


9 8 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER XI. 

That evening Rutherford arrived at home feeling rather 
badly. During the night he called to his wife and said to 
her that he felt like he was freezing. His wife raised her 
hand and laid it on his forehead. It was so hot that she 
jumped up and called to her father, who was sleeping in an 
adjoining room. When he came in, Rutherford seemed to 
be delirious. Mr. Cross at once perceived that he had a 
very high fever. A physician was sent for, and when he 
came he pronounced it a very severe case of pneumonia, and 
said that it would be very necessary to watch the symptoms 
closely and give him the strictest attention. For two days 
his breathing was hard, and he was very restless. His wife 
sat by his bedside and listened to the deep groans he uttered, 
occasionally looking into the physician’s face, who stood by, 
feeling his pulse, as if she might catch some ray of hope, 
some encouragement, to dispel the deep gloom which had 
settled over her soul. 

Since their marriage Kate Rutherford had been with her 
husband in all the troubles and trials that had beset his path- 
way, and with an unflinching nerve had borne up under the 
many distressing scenes through which he had passed. But 
he had health and strength to battle against those severe 
ordeals. Now he lay helpless as a child, a victim of a dis- 
ease that only his own strength and physical condition could 
overcome, aided by the remedies that the physician might 
prescribe. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 99 

Rutherford, though considered before his marriage rather 
a fast young man, had never wrecked his constitution by dis- 
sipation ; hence he was better enabled to resist this insidious 
foe that had attacked the vital part of his system and was 
now contending with him for the mastery. It was a struggle 
for life against the dark angel whose wings hovered over him, 
fanning into a blaze the consuming fire which would lick up 
the blood of its victim and leave only the fountain whence it 
leaped into existence a charred and blackened holocaust.- 
For several days his condition seemed to grow worse. His 
wife, pale from watching, still kept near him, and refused to 
take the rest that she so much needed and that her friends 
insisted on her taking. 

On the fifth morning the physician came into the room 
and remarked that he thought his patient was some better. 
His breathing was easier and he was not so restless. He was 
sleeping, and his fever had abated. Encouraged by these 
symptoms, his wife was persuaded to lie down and take a lit- 
tle rest. Bending over her husband, she gently kissed him, 
and walking across the room looked back, as if she had 
expected to be summoned again to his side; but he rested 
quietly, and throwing herself on the couch in an adjoining 
room, tired and overcome by her long and anxious watching, 
she quickly slept. 

For several days he recovered slowly J but the fever had 
abated, and by close attention it was evident that his conva- 
lescence would be rapid. After ten days from the first attack 
he had so far recuperated that he could sit up in an arm- 
chair. His wife was almost constantly by his side. She had 


IOO 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


begun to realize during the worst of his sickness, when his 
life for several days hung, as it were, on a thread, what a ter- 
rible affliction it would be to her to be forever separated from 
him. 

A great change had also come over the sick man. It is 
only in the hours of affliction that the soul feels its helpless- 
ness and dependence on God. It is then brought face to 
face with duties unfulfilled, with resolves unsatisfied, and 
with a thousand promises and purposes of reformation that 
have come to naught, and leaving behind it a dark cloud with- 
out a ray of sunshine to cheer it as onward it gropes in the 
inexplicable labyrinths of wretchedness and despair. But 
these sore afflictions are oftentimes merciful dispensations 
of Providence, that lead the soul on to a higher and more 
elevated plane of usefulness, giving it strength to overcome 
trials and a willingness to perform duties, and bind it event- 
ually to the immutable and unchangeable purposes for which 
the Creator has ordained it, but from which, on account of 
its sinfulness, it has departed. 

The great heart of Rutherford throbbed as it had never 
done before when the events of his past life came in pano- 
ramic view before him and he realized how little of good he 
had accomplished. Life, however, was still before him — a 
life that might be spent in sinful pleasures and in a dreary 
existence, with no shadow of hope or promised blessing, or a 
life that might not only bring joy to his own soul, but might 
stand out as a finger-board, leading others into serene path- 
ways and by still waters and green pastures, and end in a 
noble lesson of self-sacrifice, and go down to the grave bear- 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


IOI 


ing an epitaph that should be carved deep in the hearts of 
his friends and his countrymen, and finally receive that rec- 
ompense that is meted out to those who are faithful in the 
discharge of life’s duties and the lessons imposed upon them. 
He had begun to realize that it was not all of life to live nor 
all of death to die. The soul was brought into a closer com- 
munion with its God. 

His wife’s father each day would bend his willing thoughts 
upon the great issues of life, and point out to him the straight 
and narrow path that- leads to life eternal. They were as 
seed sown upon good ground, and had taken deep root, and 
were likely to produce an abundant harvest. 

Kate, perceiving this great change in the thoughts and feel- 
ings of her husband, watched over him with all that tender 
and sympathetic feeling and devotion of a true woman, and 
by her own beautiful life aided him in fastening his mind on 
those truths that are eternal and immutable. 

Three weeks had passed since he had been prostrated on 
his bed of affliction, and by carefully guarding against a re- 
lapse he had so improved that he could once more stir about. 
These few days were spent in the society of his wife and 
her friends. Whenever he walked down into the town he 
was surrounded by those who had been the companions of 
his youth and had stood by his bedside and assisted in admin- 
istering to his wants during his sickness. The days passed 
pleasantly away, and he might have lingered around these 
delightful associations for some time; but he had a duty to 
perform which was prompting him to renewed action. 

One morning, about a week after his convalescence, he 

8 


102 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


accompanied several of his friends to Lexington. The cir- 
cuit court was in session, and it was engaged on the criminal 
docket. That evening he went into the court-room just as 
the jury entered, who had been sitting for several days list- 
ening to the evidence against a young man who had been 
arrested and was being tried for passing counterfeit money. 
The case had attracted a good deal of attention, owing to 
the youth of the criminal and the manner in which he had 
passed the money. The court room was crowded with spec- 
tators, who were waiting to hear the verdict rendered by the 
jury. 

Rutherford walked in front of the bar, more to get a sight 
of the criminal than to hear the verdict of the jury that had 
just entered and stood in front of the prisoner. The young 
man who was held and was now being tried for this grave 
offense against the law was of medium size, and dressed in 
rather a stylish manner, wearing a coat that revealed a deli- 
cate form and a vest that fitted high up in the neck, almost 
concealing the white bosom of the shirt. His face was beard- 
less, and he had keen, dark blue eyes. As Rutherford stood 
in front of the railing and looked upon the prisoner their eyes 
met, and he involuntarily shrank back. They had upon him 
the fascination of a serpent as it would mesmerize its victim 
and draw it into its coils. It was evident to his mind that 
he had seen the young man before, but where he could not 
tell. As soon as he discovered Rutherford in the crowd he 
fastened his eyes upon him and hardly withdrew them until 
the judge arose from his seat and addressed the jury, “ Gen- 
tlemen, have you agreed upon a verdict?” 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. IO3 

There was a deathlike stillness pervading the room. The 
prisoner stood up in the dock with a face upon which it would 
almost seem that death had set its impress, so white and col- 
orless it looked. Before the foreman spoke, the prisoner 
turned his eyes beseechingly toward Rutherford, and when 
he answered, “We find the prisoner guilty as charged in the 
indictment,” the young man threw his arms above his head, 
and in one of the most supplicating cries ever uttered ex- 
claimed, “ Save me ! Mr. Rutherford, save me !” and falling 
forward his head struck the end of the table, and he fell like 
a corpse, the blood spurting and covering the floor where he 
lay. In a moment there was the greatest confusion in .the 
room, and several calls were made for a doctor before one 
could be procured. 

“ Stand back and give him air,” said the sheriff as he bent 
over the prostrate form, began to unbutton his vest and un- 
loose his shirt, when the horrible truth burst upon him that 
the seemingly lifeless image stretched on the floor was that of 
a young girl. 

It would be impossible to describe the consternation pro- 
duced in the court-room among the throng of spectators when 
this fact was made known to them. The pulse of the multi- 
tude throbbed like a great ocean upheaved by the hurricane, 
surging hither and thither with an unceasing motion, ever 
restless and unsettled, until the calm came and it subsided 
into a placid sea. 

Rutherford, as he heard the agonizing, pleading voice of 
the prisoner calling on him for help, instantly moved forward, 
and might have caught the prostrate form but for an inter- 


104 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


vening desk. Reaching it, however, as the girl lay bleeding 
and senseless, he assisted the physician who had come in, 
raising her up and resting her head on his knee while the 
restoratives were being applied. For several moments she 
lay as if she had received her death wound, the blood slowly 
trickling from her forehead. Binding a handkerchief around 
the wound, the blood ceased to flow. Her pulse beat fee- 
bly, and a deep groan broke audibly from her lips. The 
sheriff calling in assistance, with the aid of Rutherford, who 
supported her head, she was removed to a room in the hotel. 

Rutherford was now satisfied that the young girl they had 
borne thither was the niece of the old man who lived at the 
base of Muldraugh’s Hill, and at whose house he and his friend 
Tomlinson and the two drovers had staid all night on his 
return from Tennessee. He was also convinced that the 
young man who had purchased the pair of horses from the 
drover was the prisoner he now saw before him. 

The tumult in the court-room was intensified by the heart- 
rending exclamation of the prisoner calling on Rutherford 
for assistance. “Who is Rutherford? and what connection 
has he with the prisoner?” was surmised in the breasts of 
many present, and in several instances was given utterance 
to by the bystanders. 

After the girl had been removed to the hotel, the men stood 
around in groups discussing the absorbing topic, and in sev- 
eral instances expressing an opinion that was not at all flatter- 
ing to Rutherford. Even his friends seemed to be confused 
and unable to explain the mystery that enveloped the affair. 
Rutherford, in the mean time, whose deep sympathies were 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. I ©5 

aroused in behalf of the girl, lingered by her side, assisting 
the physician who had dressed her wounds, watching her 
deep breathing and holding the flickering pulse of the seem- 
ingly dying prisoner. The sheriff, who guarded the door with 
one of his deputies, would allow no one to enter. 

The large crowd that had been in th.e court-room now stood 
around the hotel, anxious to discover who the prisoner was, 
and learn something of her strange connection in this trial in 
which she had been arraigned and found guilty of the grave 
offense of passing counterfeit money. It was evident that 
she was a mere tool in the hands of others. Who are they? 
Could it be that Rutherford had any association with the 
gang ? The men gathered in front of the hotel had learned 
that Rutherford had been a citizen of the county and was the 
son-in-law of the Rev. Mr. Cross. Many of them had heard 
him only a few weeks previously as he gathered a large crowd 
around him and made such stirring appeals in behalf of his 
distressed and adopted country that a number had formed 
themselves into a company and were soon on their way to the 
theater of war, some the friends and others the sons of the 
men who had heard this remarkable trial and witnessed its 
tragic ending. 

The sheriff, finding that the crowd would not disperse until 
they learned something of this mysterious affair, at length 
requested Rutherford to relieve them by narrating what he 
knew of the history of the prisoner, and which he had already 
related to him. 

It was sunset, and about two hours after the removal of 
the prisoner to the hotel, when Rutherford stepped out on 


106 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

the balcony and told the assembled crowd, who stood around 
with breathless suspense, the history of the young girl as far 
as he knew, relating their interview at the house at the foot 
of Muldraugh’s Hill, the subsequent meeting at the forks of 
the road leading into the Lebanon pike, the purchase of the 
pair of horses from the drovers, the passing of the counter- 
feit money, ending in the tragedy at the court-house when 
she discovered him in the crowd, and her agonizing, pleading 
cry for help. 

Many were now of the opinion that the girl had been used 
by her uncle, who it was evident was connected with the 
counterfeiters, to aid in passing counterfeit money. 

The wife of the proprietor of the hotel remained by the 
girl during the night. It was a night of the most intense feel- 
ing to those who watched by her bedside. Most of the time 
she seemed to be laboring under the impression that she was 
on her way home, giving vent to feelings of joy as the famil- 
iar scenes were spread out before her. “Uncle, do not send 
me away again,” she would say; “I am so weary with this 
eternal round of excitement. Can’t you get others to pass 
the money? Will I never have rest?” At times her mind 
seemed to be wrought up to the most intense pitch of exas- 
peration, and she would throw her arms about and frantically 
cry out, “ I won’t go ! Let me alone !” Toward morning 
she rested more quietly, and at length slept. Those who 
stood by her bedside looked down upon her as she lay gently 
breathing and with a troubled expression resting upon her 
countenance indicating the deep mental perturbation under 
which she had been laboring during her delirium. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 107 

Rutherford, who had felt deeply interested in the girl on 
account of her plaintive and distressing cry to him for help, 
determined to bring his wife to her bedside and give her such 
relief as she might need. That night he went home, and 
returned, accompanied by his wife. 


io8 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER XII. 

There was great joy in the Mexican village that evening 
after the families accompanied by Isabella and Billingsley 
had returned from the cave. The hacienda was brilliantly 
lighted, and a ball was given in honor of the occasion. Bil- 
lingsley and Isabella joined in the dance, and the evening 
was a merry one to the assembled guests. 

For fear that Ruperto and his gang might be lurking in the 
neighborhood, the smugglers remained several days at the vil- 
lage. Billingsley, whose wound had almost entirely healed, 
determined to accompany the smugglers on their trip East, 
and after crossing the Colorado proceeded to the headquar- 
ters of the army and once more joined his command. 

The evening before his departure, accompanied by Isabella 
they proceeded to the rear of the garden and seated them- 
selves on the bench where they had so anxiously watched 
the star on the evening that her father and friends had gone 
to the mountain to relieve the approaching smugglers and 
give them assistance if necessary. The star still beamed 
across the valley, its feeble, flickering light giving an assur- 
ance of peace and safety to the village. 

The heart of Billingsley was sad. He was about to bid 
adieu to scenes around which clustered some of the happiest 
moments of his eventful life. Wandering in the company of 
the fair girl who now sat dejected and melancholy by him, 
they had watched the golden sunsets, and at times heralded 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 109 

his approach as his radiant beams came dancing over the 
prairies, bringing with him the cheerful light of day, and mir- 
roring himself in the dewdrops that sparkled like diamonds, 
and filling the world with joy and gladness. Seated in front 
of the hacienda as night stretched her mantle over mountain 
and prairie, they had looked above them at the bending arch 
studded with stars, and he had told her of those emotions 
that had stirred his heart, not gently at first, like the sighing 
winds as they wandered through the forest singing a plaintive 
song of sadness, but bursting in all their fury into the remorse- 
less and devastating cyclone, swallowing up every thing in its 
course — a devouring element that was insatiate and insatia- 
ble. His love for the fair girl had not dawned upon him 
imperceptibly, first springing into life and then taking a deep 
root, or like the curling waves of the ocean as they lap with 
open mouths the sunny beach and gently fold it in their lov- 
ing embrace. It had sprung from his heart like the fabled 
god, with buckler and helmet and cross spear, fully panoplied 
and able to overcome every thing that chance or change might 
throw in its way. 

Love, it is said, has its own misgivings, and though strong 
and unutterable, there come seasons of melancholy, when the 
heart is overburdened and restless, and a longing desire takes 
possession of it, a desire unsatisfied and unsatisfying, a some- 
thing that we would overcome and put the soul forever at 
rest. 

Billingsley, as he sat beside Isabella, took her hand gently 
in his own, but for several moments did not speak. His lips 
were mute, but an electric thrill passed through the gentle 


no 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


pressure of the hand that spoke more than words. One even- 
ing during his convalescence, as they sat in the plaza between 
the hacienda and the village, he had told her of those emo- 
tions that filled his heart, and with bent head she had listened 
in silence. Now the lip was to give utterance and seal a vow 
that was forever to remain unbroken. 

The small number of inhabitants in the Mexican village 
were engaged in trading furs with the Indians and in the cul- 
tivation of small farms in the valley. The furs were packed 
on ponies and carried to the markets. Encased in these bun- 
dles was the merchandise of the smugglers, consisting, in the 
most part, of fine goods, upon which there was a heavy duty. 
The evening before their.departure the smugglers had brought 
from the rendezvous the goods that had been covered up in 
the cave. That morning they had been packed in skins and 
loaded upon the ponies. The two young men, the sons of 
the Alcaide, were to accompany Billingsley and the gang as 
far as the Colorado River, and return. 

It was a beautiful morning as the cavalcade drew up in 
front of the hacienda preparatory to taking their long jour- 
ney through Texas for the States. Roderick and Rudolph, 
the sons of the Alcaide, were mounted on two beautiful and 
well-shaped ponies. Standing near them, caparisoned with a 
Mexican saddle artistically worked, was a medium-sized horse 
with every hair dark as a raven’s plume, and trimly built — a 
present from the Alcaide to Billingsley. The rider had not 
yet made his appearance, though all things were in readiness 
for their departure. 

In a remote part of the building was a room fitted up for 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


Ill 


Isabella as a kind of reception chamber. In it no one was 
rude enough to enter except those who were invited. In this 
room Billingsley was seated near Isabella. He had told her 
that in less than three months he would come again, if only 
for a short time. To the young girl the time seemed like an 
eternity. For half an hour after the men had mounted their 
horses he remained by her side, and when he came forth 
alone, in passing through the hall he stumbled and fell over 
a large Newfoundland dog that had stretched himself on a 
rug near the door. Rising, he rubbed his eyes, that seemed 
covered with a film. There was no one, however, near him, 
and he passed on and out into the yard, where his friends 
awaited him. After bidding adieu to the Alcaide and those 
around him, he mounted his horse, and the cavalcade wound 
around the village plaza and passed down the winding road 
to the prairie. The Alcaide and the men in the village gath- 
ered at the brow of the hill and watched them as they passed 
into the prairie and on until they appeared as a speck in the 
vast expanse that stretched out before them. 

Isabella remained in her room alone during the balance of 
the day. What her thoughts and feelings were during these 
bitter moments will never be known except to her God, with 
whom she devoutly communed, invoking his aid in those 
hours of her sore affliction and loneliness. The few weeks 
that had passed were to her as an oasis in the vast sandy des- 
ert of a life that had been watered by no perennial fountains 
of friendship or love, save those that had welled up for her 
in the hearts of her father, grandfather, uncles, and nurse. 
All other fountains that she had passed by were dried up in 


I 12 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


the arid plains, or had wasted themselves, leaving no moist- 
ure to bring forth a green spot in the heart or soften the affec- 
tions. She had seen, as it were, a beautiful star spring up in 
the horizon, and with her eyes fixed upon it had watched it 
gradually descend until it was lost in the vast expanse, leav- 
ing behind a darkness that had filled her soul with the deep- 
est gloom. Nurtured, however, in a school of endurance, 
and naturally of strong mind, and possessed of those heroic 
qualities that rise superior to the trials and misfortunes of life, 
she determined to bear up under the separation of her friends, 
not with stoical indifference, but with those firm resolves that 
spring from a heart which knows that life has its duties and 
eternity its rewards. If her own heart was sad, there were 
others burdened with sorrows as deep. In assuaging her own 
grief she might touch a spring in the hearts of others that 
would thrill with the liveliest emotions. 

Unselfish in her nature, she had long since learned that we 
live not for ourselves alone, but for others. Her old and 
heart-broken father, bent not with the infirmities of life, but 
overcome by its misfortunes, was to her mind a subject of the 
most intense solicitude, and her heart at all times went out, 
as it were, in the deepest sympathy and affection for him. 
Oftentimes in the evening twilight she had lingered near to 
the beautiful cascade where her hermit father had taken up 
his abode, unwilling to leave him, and as she would be called 
away by her grandfather or her uncles who would accompany 
her she would kneel on the soft, yielding grass of the prairie 
and implore a blessing upon him. At those times her father 
would lay his hand gently upon her head and cry out, “ May 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 113 

Heaven’s choicest blessings rest upon thee, my child !” and, 
rushing away, leave her kneeling and overcome with grief. 

With the coming of Billingsley a new life had seemed to 
infuse itself into her very existence. From the morning she 
had sat in the room watching the wounded man as he slowly 
came to consciousness and turned his eyes upon her, her 
heart had thrilled with the strangest emotion. It may at first 
have been of pity, but when he sat by her side under the 
shadow of the trees that were lengthening with the decline of 
the day, and heard him tell of his own briefly outlined his- 
tory, and of the death of his mother and the sore agony to 
his heart consequent upon it, her very life seemed absorbed 
in his, and she felt like Ruth as she clung to Naomi repeat- 
ing, “ Entreat me not to leave thee or follow after thee, for 
where thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will 
lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” 

In the evening Donnorega, her nurse, came into the room. 
At the time Isabella was standing at the window looking out 
at the distant mountains, but her thoughts were beyond them. 
In the broad expanse, in the infinity of space, beyond the 
limitless regions of the human ken, away above the broad blue 
arch that stretched itself over her, her mind would penetrate 
the regions where dwells the immaculate Son of God, seated 
upon his great white throne, and surrounded by those who 
have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and with 
palms in their hands and crowns on their heads were contin- 
ually crying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace and good will to men.” And then she would con- 
ceive the beautiful hope that in that blood-washed throng her 


1 14 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

mother, crowned by the Virgin Mary, the mother of the Son 
immaculate, striking the chords of the harp of gold with 
regenerate touch, mingled her voice in the “ Gloria in Excel- 
sis,” until the broad arch of heaven resounded with their peans 
of victory. 

“Ah ! Donnorega,” the girl said, as the nurse came to her 
side and laid her hand gently upon her head, “ I was only 
thinking of ,the after-life of that vast undiscovered country 
which can only be fathomed by the eye of faith, and to which 
the good of all the earth are gathered. How blessed will be 
that reunion when we are called thither! and not only bask 
in the sunlight of God’s presence, but be forever united with 
those from whom the grave has so long separated us. Do 
you know,” she continued, and her face lighted up with a 
radiant halo that almost seemed to Donnorega as a transfig- 
uration, “ that I have often imagined that the beautiful oriole 
which comes each morning into the boughs of the orange tree 
near my window, and sits and twitters in the sunlight, and 
skips from bough to bough, as if it would cheer me with its 
glad notes and joyful presence, perhaps may be my mother’s 
spirit brooding over her only child ? Do you know that only 
a day or two since we discussed this question of the transmi- 
gration of the soul, and how I expressed the wish that when 
my spirit becomes separated from this body it may enter into a 
bird-like existence, and forever sing the happy hours away?” 

Halting abruptly in her ecstatic mood, she threw herself 
into her nurse’s arms and wept as if her heart would break. 

Donnorega, taking the young girl in her arms, seated her- 
self in a chair, and bending over her kissed her. It was a 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 1 5 

kiss coming from a loving heart — one whose every emotion 
was a constant desire to bring a ray of sunshine across the 
pathway of the young girl whose life had been a part of her 
own from her helpless childhood. No mother ever loved her 
offspring with a more fervent devotion than Donnorega did 
the girl child she now held in her lap. The tears that glis- 
tened on her cheek were as drops of molten lava in the heart 
of her nurse. If they brought relief to the soul of one, they 
but baptized the heart of the other with a quenchless fire, one 
forever burning, yet unconsumed — a fire that lapped up every 
emotion of her being save love and pity, and those grew into 
a passion so strong that her whole life seemed absorbed in 
the one desire of making the young girl happy. With such 
a sensitive nature, it was not surprising that Donnorega 
should have wept and mingled her tears with those of the 
young girl she held in her lap. 

“ Isabella, my darling, sit up,” and wiping the tears from 
her own eyes she took her handkerchief and dried those of 
the young girl, and again kissing her said, “ Come and let us 
take a walk around the plaza; the stroll will do you good.” 

Rising from her seat, she brushed her hair from her tem- 
ples, and binding a scarf around her head the two left the 
room, and passing out of the hall directed their steps toward 
the plaza. Going to the brow of the hill where the Alcaide 
and his men had watched the departure of the cavalcade, 
Isabella and her nurse took a seat at the root of a tree, and 
gazed out upon the broad and beautiful stretch of country, 
barren of every thing save the waving grass, and unbroken 
by tree or shrub. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


1 16 


CHAPTER XIII. < 

For an hour Isabella and Donnorega sat and talked. 
Nothing was visible in the vast plain that would give relief 
to the eye. For several moments there was a silence, and 
Isabella, leaning on the shoulder of her nurse, turned her eyes 
to the south, and immediately threw her hands before them, 
as if to shut out a ray of sunlight that had flashed across the 
prairie. Immediately she removed them and looked again, 
but nothing was to be seen. The shimmering light from the 
evening sun rested upon the waving prairie grass, but all else 
was vacuity. Donnorega had also seen the flash of light, 
and was sure it was the reflection of some bright object; but 
as nothing appeared on the prairie, she was unable to divine 
whence it came. The sky was 'clear and bright, and not a 
cloud visible, and the sun was only a short distance above 
the mountains that formed a beautiful background in the rear 
of the village. Half an hour afterward they perceived a dark 
object stretching itself across the prairie, but so indistinct that 
they could not tell with the naked eye whether it was a troop 
of horsemen or a herd of buffalo scampering over it. For 
only a short time the object was visible. Whether horse or 
buffalo, they seemed to be bearing to the right, and were soon 
out of sight. The two women gazed in the direction where 
they had disappeared, until their eyes ached, but they were 
not to be seen. 

Donnorega, rising, took the hand of Isabella, and raising 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 117 

her, said they had better return to the hacienda, as the breeze 
blowing from the mountain was chilly and they had no wrap.. 
Turning their faces toward the plaza, they proceeded but a 
short distance, when they saw the Alcaide, who had come out 
to meet them. Isabella told her grandfather of the bright 
flash that had dazed her eyes, and of the dark object seen 
across the prairie, which had so soon disappeared. The Alcaide- 
listened with rapt attention, his face manifesting some uneasi- 
ness. The dark, moving objects across the prairie were of fre- 
quent occurrence. Sometimes a drove of wild horses and 
occasionally a herd of buffalo scampered over the plain, and 
the mere mention of the fact would not have elicited much 
surprise; but the flash that the two women had seen must 
have been the reflection of the sun from some bright object. 
What was its significance? Could it be that Ruperto and his 
men had been lying in wait for the moving of the cavalcade, 
and that they were now in hot pursuit of them ? 

As the Alcaide and his two companions passed on to the 
hacienda, a gloom seemed to settle over his countenance, 
but he gave no expression of his fears. The thoughts which 
passed through his brain he kept locked up, nor did he for 
a moment permit his child to suspect the terrible truth that 
weighed upon his mind. He understood her sensitive na- 
ture, and he knew the deep affection she had for her uncles 
and the tender emotions that pulsated in her heart for the 
young lieutenant, who during his stay at the hacienda had 
entwined himself in the affections of the entire household. 

Leaving the women at the door of the hacienda, he passed 
through the plaza and entered a house on the west side, where 

9 


Il8 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

two men were sitting at a table discussing the topic paramount 
in the mind of the Alcaide — the possibility of Ruperto and his 
gang lurking in the vicinity watching the movements of the 
smugglers. The Alcaide, without an invitation, drew near to 
the table and imparted to the men the suspicion that was 
aroused in his mind by the information given him by Isabella 
and her nurse. The men listened attentively, and when the 
Alcaide concluded the elder of the two arose, and reaching 
from a shelf a small carbine, remarked that he would get his 
horse and push after the men and put them on their guard, 
as he felt satisfied that the enemy had been lurking in the 
neighborhood, and were now pushing on to make a night 
attack upon their friends. The suggestion was approved by 
the Alcaide, and the three men arose and left the room to make 
preparation for the start. 

The cavalcade, after reaching the foot of the hill, with Bil- 
lingsley and Roderick and Rudolph Travino at its head, struck 
across the prairie in rather a southeasterly direction. It was 
a beautiful day, the air blowing from the mountain cool and 
crisp. For an hour the three men rode along in silence, each 
seeming to commune with his own thoughts. Billingsley, sad 
at his departure from the hacienda and its inmates, felt some- 
thing akin to happiness in the prospect of meeting his com- 
rades, who had long since supposed him dead. In such a 
frame of mind it is not surprising that he should have courted 
silence. The two young men who accompanied him were 
silent, not so much on account of separation from their friends 
as from an apprehension that seemed to force itself upon their 
minds that the men who had threatened the peace and quiet 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 119 

of the village might come again during their absence and 
make an attack upon it. It was true that the village was well 
guarded and enabled to resist an attack of twice their num- 
ber; but this fact did not seem to relieve their minds; hence 
but little was said between the three men. 

Those, however, who accompanied them had none of these 
cares on their minds, and as they moved along, some halloo- 
ing at the ponies with their pack-saddles on their backs, who 
would occasionally stop to gather a mouthful of the sweet 
prairie grass, and others singing and talking, kept up a lively 
din, quite the reverse of their taciturn leaders. 

The leader of the smugglers, a tall, raw-boned, half Mex- 
ican, half Americanos, as they were called, was a shrewd, 
observing fellow, and had been engaged in the fur trade and 
in smuggling goods for many years. He was not only well 
acquainted with the country through which they passed, but 
thoroughly understood the tricks and wiles of those from 
whom they might expect danger — the cunning Camanches 
and the Mexican robbers. Added to these annoyances, the 
Mexican army was now on Texas soil, and it was necessary 
to shun it, as others, knowing that they were not particular 
whom they robbed, whether friend or foe, so they received 
the booty. He had determined that after this day’s journey 
the cavalcade should move after night and rest during the 
day. It was considered much safer, as there were points 
along the road where the men and the goods could be con- 
cealed. The ponies, turned loose for grazing, tired from the 
night’s tramp, would herd together and feed upon the prairie 
grass without straying very far off. 


120 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


That night the cavalcade went into camp on the banks of 
a small stream that came meandering through the prairie from 
the mountains, and had entered the skirt of timber at a point 
about fifty miles from its source. 

Roderick, the eldest of the Alcaide’s sons, said to Billingsley 
as they walked down to the edge of the water that the spring, 
the source of this mountain stream, was well known to him, 
not being more than three miles above the village. He 
said that he had often accompanied his brother and Isabella 
to the spot, and that they would spend a delightful morning 
rambling among the cliffs, and at noon would spread their 
luncheon on the grassy bank and drink from the cool and 
refreshing waters of the spring. 

Kneeling upon the bank, Billingsley bowed his head and 
drank from the stream. It was a source of pleasure to him 
to know that the waters he drank had come from the spot at 
which Isabella had stood and quenched her thirst. The very 
suggestion to his mind seemed to make the waters more re- 
freshing to him. 

It was after sunset when the two men walked up from the 
water and looked across the broad stretch of prairie they had 
traversed during the day. Though thirty miles away, they 
were still in sight of the distant mountains, on the side of 
which nestled the village containing those who were the most 
dear to Billingsley and the young men. “Thou art so near, 
and yet so far,” mused Billingsley, as his thoughts dwelt upon 
the past few weeks’ association with Isabella and their sepa- 
ration. Would they ever be renewed?- How many things 
would arise in his mind to stir up the dread apprehension 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


I 21 


that perhaps they would never meet again ! Surrounded by 
enemies on every side, with a country distracted by wasting 
war, how many perils beset their pathway! A thousand and 
one misfortunes occurred to his mind ; and even death itself, 
with its long, bony index finger pointing to the grave, a som- 
ber and melancholy figure like the ghost of Banquo, flitted 
across his disordered imagination; but amid all these gloomy 
forebodings there was no misgiving as to the constancy of the 
dear girl he would have imperiled his life to give peace and 
happiness to. 

At length the shadows creeping athwart the earth made 
the outlines of the distant mountains more indistinct, until 
they were entirely hid from view. Dark night around them 
save the light of their own camp-fires throwing indistinct shad- 
ows from the tall trees near them, like weird ghosts dancing 
in the flickering blaze, now advancing, now retreating, and 
then forever disappearing. 

Off in the prairie, more than a mile away, the men stood 
on picket with their horses tethered near them. Secure from 
surprise, the men in camp gathered in groups, and laughed 
and joked and told stories till the night was far advanced. 

It was past midnight, and the men, gathered around their 
camp-fires, wrapped in their blankets, slept soundly. The 
fires burned low, and a stillness, broken only by the snort of 
a horse grazing near, or the snore of a man slumbering heav- 
ily, tired from the day’s journey, reigned supreme over the 
entire encampment. Far below them, along the edge of the 
forest, an owl hooted. Above them it was answered by its 
companion, and again all things remained silent. The hoot- 


122 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


ing of the owl disturbed the slumbers of Billingsley, and he 
threw off his blanket and sat up. Piling the burned fagots 
into a heap, they blazed up, making a cheerful light in the 
darkness with which they were surrounded. For several mo- 
ments he bent over the fire, and, rising, walked out into the 
prairie. It was a beautiful starlight night, and he for a few 
moments stood gazing up into the heavens. There were sev- 
eral of the ponies grazing near him, and all at once they 
started up and snuffed the air as if at the approach of some 
one. Aroused by the action of the ponies, that still stood 
with heads erect, occasionally giving vent to their alarm by a 
loud snort, Billingsley peered into the darkness, but could see 
nothing. Conceiving, however, the proximity of some dan- 
ger, he aroused the men and extinguished the lights. Again 
the hoot of an owl was heard in the same direction as the 
one before, but now much nearer. A painful silence ensued, 
and then came the answer from above. 

The smugglers were now satisfied that these sounds came 
not from birds, but from men, and they withdrew across the 
stream into the woods, and, protected by the trees, kept a 
close watch for the advancing foe. Billingsley whispered to 
Roderick, who stood near him, that he thought they were In- 
dians. If so, they would not make an attack before morning. 

As the men behind the forest trees stood peering into the 
darkness, they were startled by the report of a carbine, and 
then another in quick succession. Before they could recover 
from the alarm which the reports of the two guns had occa- 
sioned, they heard the advance of the two pickets, who came 
dashing over the prairie. As they approached the camp, a 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. I 23 

volley of fire-arms, both from below and above them, went 
echoing through the deep forest, and one of the horses the 
men were riding fell, while the other, whirling, dashed away 
over the prairie with its rider clinging to the saddle. 

It would be impossible to picture the stampede produced 
among the smugglers as the clear, ringing report of at least 
fifty carbines broke in upon the stillness of the night. 

Billingsley and Roderick, who were standing together, were 
both satisfied that the guns were in the hands of Ruperto and 
his followers, that it would be folly to attempt a defense, and 
that it would be advisable to scatter and make their escape 
before morning. Billingsley and the sons of the Alcaide, who 
crossed the stream together and stood near each other, moved 
off, and before daylight had plunged deep into the forest. 

About ten o’clock the next morning Billingsley shot a deer, 
and kindling a fire the three men cut slices of the venison, 
roasted it upon the coals, and ate a hearty meal. Overcome 
by the night’s travel through the forest, they spread their 
blankets upon the ground and slept for several hours. It 
was a fortunate thing that they had procured their blankets 
before leaving the camp, as the night was cool, and early in 
the morning a slight frost covered the ground. 

It was too true that the men who surrounded the camp of 
the smugglers were the robbers under the command of Ru- 
perto, who had been lurking in the mountains with scouts 
out, waiting and watching for the start of the cavalcade. It 
was the reflection from a round glass carried by one of the 
men that had dazzled the eyes of Isabella and her nurse as 
they gazed out upon the prairie that evening. 


124 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


Ruperto and his men, guided by the information of the 
scouts sent out to announce the departure of the smugglers, 
bore to the south, and that night, descrying the camp-fires 
of the men at the edge of the forest, divided their forces, a 
part of the command going above and a part below, coming 
together slowly, announcing the position of each by two of 
the men imitating the hoot of an owl. They were very near 
each other when Billingsley walked out on the prairie and 
the ponies gave the signal by scenting them and snorting. 

The two pickets out on the prairie were startled by the ap- 
proach of the messenger sent from the village to inform them 
of the apprehension that existed in the minds of their friends of 
the movement of the brigands. Seeing a horseman approach, 
they fired two shots, more as a warning to their men at the 
camp than at the rider, and, mounting their ponies, galloped 
into the camp. As they came dashing over the prairie, Ru- 
perto and his gang, who had drawn near the camp, fired a 
volley from their carbines. One of the horses was shot down, 
and its rider, unhurt, jumped up and made for the forest. 
The other went galloping over the prairie with its rider. 

The smugglers, knowing the disadvantage they labored 
under with the superiority in number of the robbers, deter- 
mined to leave their booty and make their escape. When 
the sun arose the next morning, Ruperto and his men had 
possession of the camp, but the smugglers were gone. 

After taking their quiet and refreshing sleep, Billingsley 
and the two young men held a council of war. It was deter- 
mined that Rudolph, the younger of the two brothers, should 
return home, and that Roderick should accompany Billingsley 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 25 

in search of his command. In order that the danger of a 
surprise and capture by the robbers might be avoided, Bil- 
lingsley concluded to retrace his steps and strike the prairie 
a little south of the point where they were intercepted by Ru- 
perto, and, after seeing Rudolph safe on his journey, return, 
and accompanied by Roderick get with his command. Guided 
by the sun, they proceeded through the forest but a short dis- 
tance before they unexpectedly came in sight of the prairie. 
The mountains in the west were visible, but on a close calcu- 
lation from the distance traveled through the night they were 
satisfied that they were at least ten miles below the point 
where they went into camp the evening previous. Billings- 
ley walked out into the prairie and looked up and down, but 
nothing of Ruperto and his followers was to be seen. 

That evening, going back into the forest a short distance, 
they kindled a fire and made preparations to spend the night. 
Having cut away the hams of the deer killed that morning, 
they made a hearty meal of the venison, and when the night 
came on, tired from their long tramp, they rolled themselves 
up in their blankets and slept soundly. 

The sun was up the next morning before they had prepared 
to start on their journey, Rudolph on his way home, and Bil- 
lingsley and Roderick to get with the Texas Rangers. Tear- 
ing a leaf from a memorandum book, Billingsley wrote a note 
to Isabella, and Roderick, telling his brother of his purpose 
to remain with Billingsley until they could return home, they 
bade each other an affectionate adieu. Rudolph struck across 
the prairie to the village. Billingsley and Roderick, stood and 
watched him until he was out of sight. 


126 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


There was great commotion at the village the next morn- 
ing when the man returned who had gone to notify the smug- 
glers of the approach of their foes and narrated to the Alcaide 
and the villagers, who had grouped around him, the incidents 
of the night previous. Isabella, who had been informed of 
the arrival of the messenger, stood near, and with a beating 
heart and a countenance upon which was depicted the most 
agonizing expression listened to the story told by him. Turn- 
ing away, she entered the hacienda and proceeded to her 
room, accompanied by her nurse. 

There was considerable preparation at the village, antici- 
pating an attack from the robbers, and a close watch was 
kept at the point overlooking the prairie. Late that evening 
a solitary figure was seen approaching, and all the village, 
men, women, and children, congregated to witness his ad- 
vance. Supposing it to be one of their own men, as he came 
alone, two of the villagers walked down the winding road to 
meet him. Standing at the foot of the hill, they watched the 
solitary figure as it approached, and as it came up they were 
astonished to find that it was Rudolph, the Alcaide’s youngest 
son. The men drew near, and, grasping him by the hand, 
asked almost a dozen questions at once. Smiling at their 
manner, but still sad at the recollection of the night’s adven- 
ture, he told them briefly of the surprise and capture of the 
goods and the retreat of the men in the forest. 

In the mean time the Alcaide approached, and finding it 
was his youngest son, and alone, his heart bled at the very 
thought of some direful misfortune to his eldest son and Bil- 
lingsley. As he drew near, the question uppermost in his 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 27 

mind was propounded to the young man ; and when he in- 
formed his father that Roderick and Billingsley were safe a 
sigh of relief escaped his breast. 

Preparations were continued for protecting the village, and 
a strong guard was posted at the approach. 

After a short conversation with his son, the Alcaide turned 
away to superintend the work of defense, and Rudolph en- 
tered the hacienda and went direct to the reception-room of 
Isabella, who stood nervously awaiting him. Entering the 
room and closing the door after them, he at once proceeded 
to inform Isabella of what had transpired since the cavalcade 
left the village the previous morning. The girl listened with 
nervous attention to each detail; and when Rudolph told her 
of his brother’s intention to remain with Billingsley until he 
was enabled to return, she sighed deeply. It was true that 
she loved Roderick with all the devotion of a sister — for 
they had been raised together — and she was glad to know 
that he would be with Billingsley, as each would be a pro- 
tection to the other. 

It was late that night when she retired to her room. Burn- 
ing before a crucifix, or rather suspended above it, a lamp 
cast a feeble glimmer upon the face of the Savior, a small 
image cut out of the purest marble. Bending on a mat in 
front of it, and making the sign of the cross, she raised her 
eyes first to the marble image of the Savior, and then they 
rested upon a painting of the Blessed Virgin suspended above 
it, and she invoked a blessing upon the absent ones. Rising,, 
she took from her bosom the note written by Billingsley and 
read it again. 


128 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

The wound received by the young girl convicted of passing 
counterfeit money, though a severe contusion, did not fracture 
her skull, and in twenty-four hours after her fall might have 
been of such a nature as to give her friends the hope that in 
a day or so she would be all right again ; but laboring under 
a deep suspense at the time, the physician was fearful that 
her mind would be affected, and perhaps permanently. Un- 
der careful nursing, however, she seemed to improve slowly, 
though it was a week or ten days before she began to notice 
any one. 

Late one evening, as Kate sat by her side listening to 
her deep breathing, and occasionally feeling her pulse (for 
she had some fever), she was astonished to see her sit up 
in the bed and look around with her large blue eyes, that 
seemed of a deeper blue in contrast with her pale face. At 
length, fastening them on the ceiling, as if they were riveted 
upon some object, she said, “My mother! help your poor, 
afflicted child, and remove this heavy weight suspended from 
my head, and give me some relief ; for oh ! how it makes my 
poor brain ache 1” and she put her hand to her face and fell 
back fainting upon her pillow. Kate, calling the landlady to 
her assistance, began bathing her head, and sent for the phy- 
sician. 

When Dr. Blanks came, and Kate told him of his patient 
rising and giving vent to the wild expression, and of the 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 29 

heavy weight that seemed to press on her brain, he shook his 
head mournfully, and remarked that he was afraid that when 
she again awoke she would be a raving maniac. This com- 
munication seemed to affect Kate Rutherford to tears, and 
weeping inaudibly she bent over and kissed the young girl, 
who now seemed to be resting quietly. Much to the surprise 
of the physician, who came the next morning, the young girl 
was awake and seemed to be clothed in her right mind. 

Kate and Mrs. Landrum, the landlady, had sat by her bed- 
side alternately during the night. It was during the watch 
of Kate Rutherford, and perhaps about daylight, when she 
noticed the girl became restless and turned over with her face 
toward her. Remaining in that position several moments, 
she opened her eyes and looked on her nurse, and without 
removing them from her face asked, “Will you please give 
me a drink of water ?” 

This was the first request she had made since she called 
upon Rutherford in the court-room on the evening of her 
trial. Mrs. Landrum, who was lying on a lounge near her, 
and had heard her request, jumped up, and pouring out a 
tumbler of water, Kate raised her head while she drank it. 

Thanking her attendants, she said, “ Oh, how refreshing it 
tastes !” and leaning back upon her pillow she closed her 
eyes. They were shut only for a moment, when she again 
opened them and asked where she was. 

Kate said, “You are with your friends, my darling; but 
you must be quiet and not talk.” 

The girl again closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Her 
mind seemed to be bewildered, as if she could not compre- 


130 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

hend the situation she was placed in or recognize those who 
waited on her. Resting in that condition, when the doctor 
came the next morning and found her seemingly clothed in 
her right mind he turned to Kate and asked her at what time 
she roused up and what she said. 

Kate replied that the first request was for water, which was 
given her, repeating her expressions of thankfulness and how 
refreshing the water tasted to her. 

The morning after the trial of Lucy Ashton — for that was 
understood to be the name of the young girl arrested and 
convicted of passing the counterfeit money — it was deter- 
mined by the sheriff and several of the citizens to attempt 
the arrest of the uncle of the girl and the counterfeiters who 
were supposed to be connected with him. 

As Rutherford could identify the old man, it was proposed 
that he should accompany the sheriff and six picked men 
whose personal courage could be relied on, and proceed to 
the residence of the old man, who lived at the base of Mul- 
draugh’s Hill, and make the arrest. It was thought if he 
could be secured he might be made, either through threats 
or promises, to disclose the retreat of the counterfeiters, and 
that the whole gang might be arrested. 

When the proposition was made to Rutherford the day 
after the trial, he at first felt like he would be forfeiting the 
trust imposed on him by the council of war in drumming up 
recruits for his distressed and adopted country; but as it was 
thought he would be detained only four or five days, he at 
length rather reluctantly agreed to accompany the sheriff and 
his men and aid in making the arrest. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 131 

The next morning after the arrival of Kate Rutherford at 
the hotel, her husband, accompanied by the sheriff and six 
picked men, all well armed and mounted, left Lexington, and 
after two days’ hard travel stopped for the night at a farm- 
house a few miles from the village of Lebanon. 

The sheriff and Rutherford, after a close conversation that 
night, thought it best to rest over the next day and procure 
the assistance of some one who could pilot them over the 
mountain, and the next morning take an early start, and by 
traveling in the night evade suspicion, and before day sur- 
round the house and make an arrest of all its inmates. 

The men accompanying the sheriff were to be kept con- 
cealed the next day, and Rutherford and the sheriff were to 
be represented as horse drovers on their way south with a 
drove of horses, should any one come around. The day 
passed quietly away. 

The men accompanying the sheriff, knowing that they 
would be up during the night, and having nothing to engage 
their attention, slept most of the time. Not so with the sheriff 
and Rutherford. They could not sleep, for their minds were 
too intently engaged in mapping out the mode of arrest and 
how it were best to proceed. 

That evening, about an hour before sunset, a young man 
riding rather a stylish-looking horse, and evidently a traveler, 
rode up to the farm-house and requested lodging for the night. 
He had behind him a pair of saddle-bags, and stated that he 
was from Cincinnati and was on his way to Nashville. The 
old gentleman, the proprietor of the house, at first seemed to 
hesitate, but Rutherford, who stood near him, nudging him in 


I32 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

the side and giving him a significant nod, at once decided the 
question, and he was invited to alight and walk in. The old 
gentleman, who had taken the stranger’s horse and had started 
with him to the stable, was accosted by Rutherford to wait 
and he would accompany him, as he wished to rub some oint- 
ment on one of his horse’s legs that seemed to be lame. The 
sheriff standing near was requested by the old gentleman to 
go with the stranger to the house, and accompanied by Ruth- 
erford he led the horse toward the stable. 

Rutherford, as soon as they were out of hearing, informed 
the old gentleman that he was sure that the stranger they had 
just left was the man who accompanied the young girl when 
she made the purchase of the pair of horses on the Lebanon 
pike and paid for them in counterfeit money. After making 
this disclosure the old gentleman was requested to return to 
the house and, to allay suspicion, notify the sheriff to come 
down to the stable, as one of the horses had received a severe 
kick and was quite lame. He was advised to keep a close 
watch on the man, and to call the men from their room and 
have him arrested should he take the alarm and try to escape. 

When the sheriff came to the stable he was informed of 
the suspicion that the young man was one of the gang of 
counterfeiters, and was no doubt sent to watch their move- 
ments and give the alarm to his confederates, so that they 
might escape if danger should threaten them. 

“Why do you think this is the man whom you suppose 
accompanied the young girl on the day she traded for the 
horses ?” the sheriff asked, as they sat on the fence undecided 
as to what course to pursue. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 33 

“ I noticed,” replied Rutherford, “ a small scar on his right 
cheek and the loss of the first joint of the index finger on 
his right hand. The man, however, seems taller than the one 
I have reference to, but that may be because I have seen him 
this evening on foot, when before he only sat on his horse 
without dismounting.” 

It was necessary that some action should be taken at once, 
as in an hour they were to leave. After much reflection, and 
considering the exigency of the occasion, and that if he was 
not the right man he would only be detained a day anyhow, 
they determined to make the arrest. 

When they arrived at the house, the old gentleman and 
young man were sitting out in the gallery smoking. It had 
been decided that Rutherford should be the spokesman and 
notify the young man of his detention for a day or so, as they 
were in pursuit of a gang of counterfeiters, and it was thought 
prudent that as he was a stranger he should be held until the 
arrest was made. 

When this fact was made known to him he arose from his 
chair, and in the most indignant manner expressed his dissat- 
isfaction at the outrageous proceeding. 

“Why should you detain me?” he asked. “By what au- 
thority am I to be held as a prisoner and deprived of my right 
of proceeding on my journey? What have I done to warrant 
this arrest ? What suspicion has been aroused in your brain 
that I would communicate any intelligence to the lawless men 
of whom you are in pursuit? Do you suppose me one of 
their gang, or because I am a stranger in these parts that I 
can not satisfy you as to the fact that I am a gentleman, and 


10 


134 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

should be above the suspicion that you have seen fit to clothe 
me with ?” 

Taking from his pocket several letters, as he continued 
indignantly to denounce the proceeding, he handed them to 
Rutherford, who read them and passed them to the sheriff. 
They were from several well-known citizens of Cincinnati and 
Lexington, indorsing and recommending Stephen Dorsey as 
a young man of unexceptionable character. 

The sheriff, after reading the letters, hesitatingly handed 
them back to the young man, and seemed to doubt the pro- 
priety of making the arrest. 

Rutherford, who had watched the countenance of the 
young man closely, and who still kept his eye on him, as 
if he would penetrate the depths of his soul and fathom the 
secret which now held all in doubt, at length asked him, “Do 
you know Lucy Ashton ? and do you remember the transac- 
tion with the horse traders only a few weeks since, when you 
accompanied her, and purchasing the pair of horses paid the 
drovers nine one-hundred-dollar bills in counterfeit money ?” 

As soon as the name of Lucy Ashton was mentioned the 
young man turned suddenly pale; and as Rutherford pro- 
ceeded to recount the incident above spoken of, a kind of 
restlessness seemed to take possession of him, and he looked 
around as if he would break away and seek safety in flight. 
Seeing, however, the number of men that surrounded him, 
his countenance changed, and he seemed to assume a bolder 
attitude. 

Rutherford and the sheriff drew away from the crowd, and 
after a short conversation determined to arrest him anyhow. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 135 

When the conclusion had been announced to the prisoner, he 
rather defiantly remarked that he would make them repent of 
their action ; but finding that both remonstrance and threats 
would not avail him, he stubbornly submitted to their de- 
cision. 

During the day the sheriff had procured the services of a 
reliable guide, a man of middle age, who had lited for many 
years in the neighborhood of old man Ashton, and who was 
acquainted with every crook and bypath among the hills, hav- 
ing spent the greater part of his life in hunting and wander- 
ing among its almost inaccessible defiles. 

The distance from the farm-house where they had spent 
the night and day was at least twenty miles to the foot of the 
hill where old man Ashton resided, and it would take four or 
five hours’ hard riding to arrive there. It was after sunset 
before every thing was in readiness for the start. The man 
under arrest was to be carried to Lebanon, and there held 
until they returned. Going into the village after dark, the 
prisoner was turned over to the sheriff of the county and con- 
fined in jail. 

It was past midnight when the sheriff and his posse drew 
near to the point around which, perhaps half a mile away, 
the house of old man Ashton was nestled in a grove at the 
foot of the hill. They were still on a summit of the hills, 
and across the valley a flood of moonlight rested upon the 
interlacing tree tops, barren of foliage, and revealing the wa- 
ters of a stream that wound around it at the base. The moon 
was just setting, and the men, gathered around their guide, 
waited until the night should shut out its last rays. The 


136 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

horses were to be left with one of the men, and the guide, 
leaving the road, was to pass around the hill, and taking a 
path at the westerly extremity come up with the men in the 
rear of the house and surround it. It required the utmost 
circumspection, as no doubt the old man, knowing of the 
arrest of his niece and perhaps the disclosure that would fol- 
low, was on the alert and had some one posted near to give 
the alarm, should danger threaten him. 

The guide with the men stumbling over boulders and creep- 
ing through the tangled brushwood, tearing their skin and 
bruising their shins, made slow headway. About an hour 
after leaving their horses they began to descend the pathway 
which wound around the hill from the base to the summit, 
and in half an hour were in sight of the rear portion of the 
house. Resting under the deep shadow of the trees for a few 
moments, they advanced toward the house and surrounded it 
on all sides, so that it would be impossible for any one to 
escape without being discovered. After the men had all been 
posted, Rutherford and the sheriff advanced to the door and 
knocked. The sound went echoing through the house, but no 
answer was given or light appeared. Waiting a moment, they 
knocked again, but still the silence within was uninterrupted. 

“Suppose we strike a light and go in,” said the sheriff; 
and, suiting the action to the word, they lighted a lantern and 
pushed at the door, which seemed barred from within. 

“Halloo!” Rutherford cried, and receiving no answer the 
two men placed their shoulders against the door and pushed 
heavily, but it seemed effectually closed. For several mo- 
ments the two men stood silently contemplating the condition 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 137 

of things, when Rutherford, stepping back a few feet, rushed 
against it with his shoulder. The jar, coupled with the im- 
mense pressure brought against it, caused the bolt to give 
way, and the bar across it fell with a dull, heavy sound to the 
floor, and the door flew open. 

The two men walked through the hall and into the sitting- 
room, and then up a flight of stairs and down another, and 
into all the rooms in the house. Every thing was gone, and 
they found only a deserted establishment. As they passed 
through the upper portion of the building, something rushed 
by the two men so rapidly that for a moment they were con- 
siderably shocked. Raising their lantern, they beheld a large 
white cat jump through the window to the roof of a shed. 

The sheriff was now satisfied that the old man had taken 
the alarm and fled to parts unknown. Going out in front of 
the house, the men were called together and a consultation 
had as to future proceedings. It was now about three o’clock 
in the morning, and they were chilled by the cold mountain air. 

“ I think we had better go in and kindle a fire and remain 
until daylight,” said Rutherford. “Two of the men can be 
dispatched after the horses.” 

This proposition was at once agreed to, and the men, col- 
lecting several turns of wood from the pile already cut, en- 
tered the house, and soon a blazing fire was burning in the 
large, old-fashioned fireplace. The guide, with one of the 
men, after getting thoroughly warmed, went after the horses, 
which in half an hour were tied up near the house. 

About daylight Rutherford walked down the road for a 
short distance, and seeing a light emanating from a small 


138 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

cabin, went toward it. When near it he saw an old negro 
man walk around the cabin and enter it. Going up, he hailed 
him, and he came to the door. Without saying any thing more, 
he walked up and entered the cabin. It was occupied by an 
old negro man and his wife. 

Rutherford questioned him as to the removal of old man 
Ashton. He said that about five or six nights ago, perhaps 
about midnight, he had heard several wagons pass his cabin, 
and the next morning the house at the head of the lane was 
deserted. The negro seemed an innocent and unsuspecting 
old fellow, and Rutherford concluded that he could learn 
nothing from him that would give them a clew to the retreat 
of the Ashtons. 

Returning to the house, the sheriff and Rutherford con- 
cluded to return to Lebanon and see if they could not in- 
duce the young man held under arrest to make a disclosure 
of the retreat of the Ashtons and the gang. They were now 
satisfied that there were more engaged in the business than old 
man Ashton and the young girl they had left in Lexington. 

It was about ten o’clock in the day when they rode into 
Lebanon, tired and hungry. After getting their breakfast, 
Rutherford and the sheriff, accompanied by the sheriff of 
the county, went to the jail and had a long interview with the 
prisoner. At first he protested that he knew nothing of the 
Ashtons, and gave several varying statements as to himself. 
Finding that they could not induce him to compromise the 
gang of which Rutherford felt sure he was a member, they 
withdrew, and several propositions were made as to what 
steps should be next taken. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


139 


CHAPTER XV. 

The sheriff was in favor of abandoning the project and 
returning home, and it seemed likely that this would be the 
only course left for them to pursue. Rutherford, on account 
of the young girl, over whose fate he had become deeply 
interested, and indignant at the old man for putting her in 
such a position, was loth to give up the chase. At length an 
idea occurred to him, and he proposed to the two men who 
accompanied him that he should be permitted to have a pri- 
vate interview with the prisoner. The officers consented, and 
Rutherford walked into the jail and into the room where the 
prisoner was confined, and closed the door after him. He 
told the young man that he could not be mistaken as to his 
identity, and that 'it was determined by the officers to take 
him to Lexington, so that Lucy Ashton could see him and 
state whether he was not with her on the morning that she 
traded with the drovers for the two horses and paid them in 
counterfeit money. 

Still protesting that he was not the man, and finding that it 
would be impossible to get any thing out of him, Rutherford 
arose and walked to the door, remarking to him that he might 
get ready to accompany them to Lexington. Before he closed 
the door behind him, the young man called him back. Sit- 
ting on the side of the bed, pale and overcome by the dread 
apprehension of being brought face to face with Lucy Ash- 
ton, he turned pleadingly to Rutherford and said that if he 


140 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


would guarantee him protection he would inform them of the 
rendezvous of the counterfeiters, and that he had no doubt 
but that old man Ashton would be found with them. He 
stated to Rutherford that his name was Sam Black, and that 
he had been employed by old man x\shton to aid his niece, 
Lucy Ashton, in passing the counterfeit money. He also 
stated that old man Ashton was an expert engraver, and that 
there were several others engaged with him in the business of 
counterfeiting. 

Rutherford told the young man that he could promise him 
no protection outside of the mercy of the law, but that he was 
satisfied if he would discover the gang to them, and give them 
the necessary assistance in their capture, the court might be 
induced to exercise its clemency toward him in turning State’s 
evidence. With this assurance he determined to give the offi- 
cers the information that would lead to the arrest of the gang. 

With this satisfactory interview, Rutherford returned and 
informed the officers of the success he had met with. 

The three men returned to the jail, when Sam Black told 
them that the counterfeiters had a cave about ten miles above 
old man Ashton’s house, in one of the wildest and most un- 
frequented portions of Muldraugh’s Hill, and that he was 
satisfied they were congregated there. He said that when- 
ever the officers got after any of the gang they all made for 
this rendezvous, where they remained until the danger was 
over. He stated that never before had any of the gang been 
arrested, and when the arrest of Lucy Ashton was made 
known the wildest confusion followed. He was satisfied the 
men would exercise the closest vigilance, and it would be 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 141 

necessary to proceed very cautiously. When questioned as 
to his own movements, he said that he had been sent to Lex- 
ington to learn what had become of Lucy Ashton, and that 
he was on his return when he rode up to the farm-house to 
stay all night, where he was arrested. 

Rutherford asked him what course they had better pursue 
in making the arrest. 

He replied that there were two approaches to the cave — 
one along the foot of the hills from the south, and a trail over 
the hills from the north. The path from the south was the 
one used by the counterfeiters to their cave, and it was prob- 
able that it was well guarded, to give an alarm should any 
one approach in that direction. The path from the north 
led beyond the hills into an uninhabitable region. It was 
more of a deer path, and was seldom used by the men except 
when they went out hunting. 

Notifying the young man that it would be necessary for him 
to accompany them, they returned to the tavern to decide 
upon future operations. Knowing that it would be impos- 
sible to proceed on horseback, they determined to start the 
next morning and get as near the cave as possible without 
being discovered, and wait till night before making the arrest. 

The next morning they assembled at the jail. The men 
were well armed with shotguns. When every thing was in 
readiness to depart, Sam Black was brought out. He was 
told by the sheriff that it was necessary for him to deal fairly 
by them, and that any maneuvering on his part to escape or 
give warning to his comrades would meet with the most 
prompt punishment. 


142 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


He said that he would do as directed, and that he had no 
idea of dissimulating with them. 

The men had procured rations enough to last them two 
days, and as it was still cool, and they would be compelled to 
remain out in the mountains after night without kindling a 
fire, each man was provided with a blanket, which was folded 
and suspended from his shoulder. 

Thus equipped, they left the village, and, going several 
miles south, struck through the woods in the direction of 
Muldraugh’s Hill. Arriving at the base of the hill on the 
north, they proceeded about nine miles over some of the 
roughest country in all Southern Kentucky. Moving cau- 
tiously, it was about four o’clock in the evening when they 
entered a ravine, or, rather, a gap between the hills. At its 
western extremity they were pointed out the path, by Black, 
that led over the hill about a mile away, on the side of which 
was the cave where the counterfeiters had congregated. 

Halting the men, they withdrew several hundred yards from 
the path and waited for the sun to set. It was not long before 
the shadows from the hills west of them began lengthening 
themselves, approaching nearer and nearer until night envel- 
oped both hill and valley. The moon, however, shone bright- 
ly, and through the indistinct shadows of the forest trees the 
men moved stealthily along. Sam Black was accompanied 
by a man on either side, and should he make a break his skin 
would be perforated by a half dozen loads of buckshot. He 
had no intention, however, of making the venture, and moved 
along as cautiously as his guards. 

Passing through the ravine for several hundred yards, they 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 43 

ascended the hill, covered with a rough and stunted growth 
of trees, through which the path wound around in the direc- 
tion of the cave. 

They were now near the entrance, and the most profound 
quiet reigned, not only among the men, but through the hills. 
Not so much as the chirp of a cricket was heard to break the 
painful silence. Beyond the shadows the rays of the moon 
penetrated the hills and revealed to the men the spot where 
an entrance into the cave could be effected. Moving along 
breathlessly, they stood near to the mouth and peered into the 
darkness within. 

Sam Black had told them that on entering the cave and 
going about twenty feet they would turn an angle to the left, 
and proceeding about one hundred feet farther and turning 
to the right they would come into the apartment used by the 
counterfeiters as a rendezvous. 

Halting for a moment at the mouth of the cave, the men 
entered and proceeded cautiously, almost suppressing a long 
breath. Turning the angle to the left, they could see from 
the reflection of the light against the wall that some one was 
in the cave. 

Feeling their way in the darkness, and aided by the feeble 
glimmer of the light from within, they turned the angle to the 
right, and Rutherford, who was a little in advance of the men, 
halted and waved his hand backward. He was now in sight 
of the cave’s only occupant. 

Seated at a table on which rested two lamps, old man Ash- 
ton, with spectacles on, bent over something in which he 
seemed intently engaged. His white hair was thrown back 


144 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


from his forehead, and the glimmer of the lamps seemed to 
dance with the shadows on t\\e wall, making grotesque images, 
as the old man would move his head. Caricatures they may 
have been, but how evanescent ! 

Moving rapidly forward, Rutherford laid his hand upon his 
shoulder before he was aware of his presence. 

“ Caught at last !” the old fellow said, in a faltering voice, 
as he looked up and beheld that he was surrounded by his 
captors. On the table before him was a die, upon which he 
was so intently engaged that he did not notice the approach 
of the men. 

Sam Black stood in the shadows, unobserved by the old 
man, who seemed to be stupefied with astonishment, looking 
first upon one of his captors, and then another, as if to detect 
the presence of some one who had led them to his hiding- 
place. But the faces of all the men were strange to him. 
He did not even recognize the features of Rutherford, who 
was perhaps the only man of the party who had ever seen 
him before. 

Rising from the table and stretching himself to his full 
length, he turned to Rutherford and said, “Well, sir, I see 
you have followed me like blood-hounds into this dreary and 
desolate region, where I had supposed no man would come 
unaided, for the purpose of dragging me forth like a miser- 
able cur that I am, to be mocked and derided by the popu- 
lace, and jeered at and spit upon, and at last, through some 
form of the law, hung by the neck until my miserable carcass 
is pronounced dead, and then hauled away like some fetid 
garbage, to be dumped in some out-of-the-way place, and cov- 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 45 

ered with dirt, and left food for the worms, with nothing to 
mark the spot where it lies or to tell the story of a miserable 
life spent in the dread apprehension of meeting the end to 
which fate seems to assign me.” Bending his head upon his 
breast, he was for a moment silent. Then, raising his eyes to 
the roof of the cave, he continued, “ But, after all, it may be 
right, for I have long since learned the lesson which should 
have admonished me to lead a better life, that ‘ the way of the 
transgressor is hard/ and I have lived for years in the con- 
stant dread and apprehension that my sins would find me out, 
and that I would some day be dragged forth from my hiding- 
place to answer for those offenses for which I am to be judged 
by the law. But may they,” he said, “who are called to ad- 
minister them extend to me that mercy which they may them- 
selves claim from a higher tribunal,” and, sinking back into 
his seat, the old man seemed entirely overcome, and, cover- 
ing his head with his hands, a deep silence for a few moments 
reigned throughout the cave. 

Rutherford and the men stood around the old man, and 
though they felt rejoiced at his capture, yet a feeling of the 
deepest sympathy was aroused as he concluded his speech 
and sat with his head bent upon the table, on which was 
spread the instruments of his guilt, and which was conclu- 
sive evidence against him. 

During the short speech of old man Ashton, Rutherford 
and the men accompanying him had their minds so wrought 
upon by his strange appearance and the words he addressed 
to them that they did not notice Sam Black, who had stepped 
several paces back into the darkness, and, finding himself un- 


146 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

noticed by his guards, had turned his face to the mouth of the 
cave, and before those who stood near him were aware of his 
intention had groped his way out and disappeared under the 
cover of the night. 

The cave in which the counterfeiters had taken up their 
abode, from appearances, was only used as a temporary hid- 
ing-place. There was but little to be seen. A table, several 
chairs, a few cooking utensils, and a quantity of bedding alone 
constituted the furniture of this wretched abode where this 
miserable old man had fled from the hands of that justice 
which would ere long be meted out to him for the crimes 
which he had perpetrated against the law and the society of 
which he might have been a useful member. 

As old man Ashton sat at the table with head bowed upon 
it, Rutherford turned to address Sam Black, and when the 
men discovered that he had disappeared they were greatly dis- 
turbed, but knowing it would be folly to attempt pursuit in the 
darkness, and in a section of country in which he knew every 
crook and turn, they turned their attention to the old man, 
determined not to be outwitted by him. 

When Sam Black escaped from his captors, he took the 
path leading south from the cave, and pushed on in the dark- 
ness as best he could, guided more by the appearance of the 
country through which he passed than the narrow pathway 
leading from it. About half the distance between the cave 
and the road leading over the hills from the Lebanon pike to 
a place known as Bear Wallow, where it intersected the road 
leading from Louisville to Nashville, and passing a stopping- 
place called Bell’s Tavern, he met the three confederates of 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 147 

old man Ashton, who were on their way to the cave. Inform- 
ing them of the officers and men who had captured their com- 
rade, and who were now at the cave, the three men turned 
back and left their accomplice to his fate. 

Posting a guard to watch the prisoner the men at the cave, 
tired from the day’s journey over the rough country through 
which they had passed, spread their blankets and slept the 
balance of the night away. 

The next morning, after eating their breakfast and packing 
up a lot of the counterfeiting instruments and a number of 
counterfeit notes on different banks, they left the cave, and 
with their captive well guarded made their way over the hills, 
and that evening late arrived at Lebanon, where the prisoner 
was confined in jail. 

The next day Rutherford and the men accompanying him 
returned to Lexington. Lucy Ashton was still in a critical 
condition. Kate Rutherford continued with her. 

A large number of citizens, including the judge, the com- 
monwealth’s attorney, and the jury who had sat on the case, 
had signed a petition to the Governor for a pardon. 

The Governor, however, learning that it was probable that 
some of the leaders of the gang would be arrested, and as he 
wished the young girl’s evidence against them, had not taken 
any action in regard to the matter. 

A few days after Rutherford arrived in Lexington he learned 
that old man Ashton had been taken to Louisville for safe- 
keeping, and that his trial would take place in that city in 
about two weeks. 

Rutherford and his wife had determined, should the young 


148 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

girl be pardoned by the Governor, to take her with them to 
Texas. 

Lucy Ashton, too weak to have made her escape if she had 
desired it, was left by the sheriff in the care of Kate Ruther- 
ford. A few days after the capture of old man Ashton, when 
it was made known that there was sufficient evidence against 
him to convict him without that of the young girl, the Gov- 
ernor was prevailed upon to exercise his executive clem- 
ency and pardon her; which he did, with the understanding 
that she was not to leave the country until the trial should 
take place. 

About a week after Rutherford’s arrival in Lexington the 
girl had so far recovered that she could be moved to the resi- 
dence of Mr. Cross, where she was taken, and there remained 
until the trial took place. 

Rutherford had been summoned as a witness, and conse- 
quently his return to Texas was postponed for two weeks, 
much to his regret, as he had written that he would leave in 
a few days. He was more anxious now than ever, as he 
had been informed that Santa Ana, at the head of the Mex- 
ican army, was moving through the country laying it in waste, 
and it required the services of every son of Texas to hasten 
to the assistance of his friends and aid them in this the great- 
est hour of their distress. 

In two weeks the trial was to take place. Rutherford and 
his wife had not informed the young girl of her uncle’s arrest, 
and, if her testimony was not imperative, had concluded to' 
keep her ignorant of the trial, and had determined to start 
with her at once for Texas should the old man be convicted. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 49 

Preparation was at once commenced for their return. Kate 
and Lucy Ashton were to be conveyed to Louisville and there 
remain during the trial. 

It was a sad parting between Kate and her old father the 
day the stage drove up to convey them to Louisville. A 
large number of their friends had gathered to see them off, 
and many bitter tears were shed as the rumbling old stage 
bore them away. As the coach turned the corner hiding the 
dear old home of her youth, Kate looked back at the friends 
gathered in a group, in the center of which stood her father. 
But the spirited horses bore her rapidly away, and soon the 
familiar scenes faded from her view. 

On the day of the trial of old man Ashton the court-house 
was crowded with spectators. The old man, pale and hag- 
gard, was told to stand up, and the indictment was read to 
him. After it had been read, charging him with counterfeit- 
ing the notes of several banks and the passing of counterfeit 
money, the judge arose from his seat and said, “The pris- 
oner will look to the jury and say whether guilty or not guilty 
of the charges preferred against him.” For a moment there 
was a deep silence in the room, and the prisoner stood with 
his head bent and his eyes resting on the floor. At length, 
raising them, he turned his head to the judge and said in 
rather an impressive tone, “ I plead guilty to the charges pre- 
ferred against me,” and sat down and bent his head upon the 
desk in front of him. 

There seemed to be a settled disappointment on the faces 
of the spectators when the plea of guilty was entered against 
the old man. The crowd, ever ready for a sensation, would 


1 1 


150 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

have preferred having the trial go on. In this, however, they 
were disappointed, and when the judge ordered the sheriff to 
remove the old man and confine him closely in the jail they 
began to leave, and soon the court-room was emptied of those 
who had congregated through mere idle curiosity, and the 
regular business was proceeded with. 

It now remained with the judge to pass sentence on the 
old man, and on Saturday evening he was again brought into 
the court-room. The judge, after recounting the enormity of 
the crime of which he had pleaded guilty, pronounced the 
sentence of death upon him, and he was removed and again 
confined within the walls of the prison. 

There was an effort made, on account of the age of the 
prisoner, to have his sentence commuted to imprisonment for 
life, but so many had violated the law prohibiting this offense 
and had gone unpunished that the Governor determined that 
the sentence of the court should be carried into effect with- 
out his interference. 

After the trial, Rutherford and his wife, accompanied by 
the young girl Lucy Ashton, took passage on a steamboat for 
New Orleans. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


151 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Billingsley and his young friend stood and watched Ru- 
dolph until he became a speck in the vast prairie through 
which he wended his way back to the village. After he was 
out of sight, the two turned their faces eastward and again 
entered the forest. 

More than two months had passed since Billingsley had 
been separated from his command. During that time many 
stirring scenes had transpired. The blood of some of the 
best men that had ever set foot upon Texas soil had been 
poured out like water, and many homes had been made deso- 
late by the hostile foe that was now stretching its cordon, like 
the serpent enfolding the body of Laocoon, and pressing out 
the very existence of the nation. But these things were as a 
tale untold to the young lieutenant, prostrated as he was by 
his wounds in the Mexican village, with no messenger bear- 
ing the sad tidings of a young nation’s struggle for its inde- 
pendence, and the sacrifices being made by her illustrious 
sons. 

The history of a nation’s glory is but the record of her 
ingratitude to those of her sons who laid the foundation of 
her greatness in their martyr blood. These solemn truths, 
however, are not counted in the cost by the chivalric souls 
that pluck victory from defeat and grasp a nation struggling 
for existence from a foreign foe, and erect upon the ensan- 
guined battle-field a temple dedicated to liberty and capped 


152 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

by the beautiful goddess, bearing upon her fair brow the civic 
crown of peace, and waving in her hand the scepter of equal- 
ity and justice to all her citizens. 

The prophet Ezekiel might to-day look into the valleys that 
stretch themselves through every nation of the earth, and find 
great armies of dry bones that are bleaching upon the battle- 
fields both of the conqueror and the conquered. Are their 
names recorded? Are the great achievements, the heroic 
daring, the deeds of courage, the great struggle for conquest 
and victory remembered? Are the records of their sieges, 
their marches through the pelting storms of winter, and with 
feet blistered with the burning suns of summer, carved on 
enduring tablets for future generations to read and admire ? 
Alas ! their names and their fame are as some forgotten dream 
that has past and is gone, or like some beautiful vision that 
still lingers in the imagination, yet too indistinct to recall. 

Trudging through the seemingly interminable forest, over 
long ranges of hills and through valleys covered with the tan- 
gled brush-wood, it was a relief to Billingsley and his friend 
Roderick to come once more in sight of the prairie. Rest- 
ing themselves on the body of a fallen tree, the young men 
sat and talked for more than an hour. They were still back 
in the forest, though in sight of the prairie. Through the 
growth of tall timber they could look across the prairie, be- 
yond which was a continuation of the forest, the barren track 
of ground perhaps a mile or so wide, a kind of peninsula, 
separating the tangled wilderness through which they had 
passed, from the one, dark and upheaving, that stretched out 
in front of them. They were in a portion of country where the 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 53 

ax of the white settler had never resounded through the vir- 
gin forest. The echo of the pioneer’s rifle would have caused 
as great a consternation among the birds and wild beasts that 
thickly infested this wilderness country as did the report of 
the gun fired by Robinson Crusoe on the island of Juan 
Fernandez. Overcome by the fatigues of the day’s journey, 
Billingsley said to Roderick that he thought it would be best 
not to cross the prairie that evening as the sun was almost 
down. His young friend was but too willing to comply with 
the suggestion, and they at once began preparations for the 
night’s encampment. 

Collecting a quantity of dry wood, they cooked the rem- 
nant of the venison killed previously, and spreading their 
blankets on the boughs of some evergreen trees which they 
had broked off, they stretched themselves before the fire and 
watched the night as she drew her curtain of darkness over 
woodland and prairie. 

The next morning, as they hovered over the fire, for there 
had been a slight frost that night, and the morning air was 
keen and cutting, they were terribly shocked to see a com- 
pany of horsemen riding over the prairie and in the direc- 
tion of their encampment. 

For fear that the smoke might signal them, they at once be- 
gan to smother the fire, first scattering the brands, and then 
covering them with dirt. After effacing all signs of their 
night’s encampment, they withdrew a short distance in the 
woods for the purpose of concealment and to watch the troop- 
ers, who were bearing in a direct line toward them. 

Roderick said that he thought they were a company of 


154 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

Mexican Lancers. They were satisfied that they were not 
Indians. On they came, and the two young men, having se- 
creted themselves in the branches of the fallen tree they had 
sat on the evening previous, watched them as they approach- 
ed, with feelings of the keenest suspense. When they came 
near enough for closer observation Billingsley’s heart almost 
leaped into his mouth, as he thought he recognized the pecul- 
iar outfit of his own command. He whispered his suspicion 
to his friend, but for fear they might be foes they kept them- 
selves concealed, still watching the advance of the company. 

As they drew near and all doubt was removed from his 
mind as to their identity, he crept from his hiding-place and 
advanced toward them. The men were now on the edge of 
the forest, and only a few hundred feet from the place where 
Billingsley and Roderick had concealed themselves. First 
advancing slowly, still concealed by the overhanging branches 
of the tree in front of him, he at length stepped out in view 
of the men, who came to a halt on perceiving him as he 
walked toward them. 

At first the men did not recognize him, but when they did 
such a yell burst from the lips of the horsemen as had never 
before been heard in the silent depths of this forest. When 
the men in front recognized their old leader they jumped 
from their horses, and lifting him on their shoulders bore him 
into the midst of his friends, while yell after yell resounded 
through the fresh morning air. 

The entire command, dismounting, gathered around the two 
young men, for Roderick had come up and soon stood by his 
friend, while Billingsley related to them a short history of his 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 55 

adventures since the fight with the Indians, when it was sup- 
posed he was killed. For the first time he heard of the com- 
mission of Captain Rutherford and of his journey to the States. 
He found among the command some twenty men who had 
been enlisted by him in New Orleans. 

The company had been sent to intercept a train of Mexican 
supplies, and either capture or destroy them. It was under- 
stood that the supply-train would cross the Rio Grande at a 
point near where Rutherford and his men had crossed on the 
evening of their dance at the Mexican village. 

Recrossing the forest, through which Billingsley and Rod- 
erick had wandered the day previous, the Rangers accompan- 
ied by them directed their course toward the Mexican village. 

Billingsley and Roderick had been supplied with horses used 
for packing supplies, and though rough and clumsy animals, 
the two young men felt greatly relieved after having traveled 
over the country several days on foot. Pushing through the 
forest and over the prairie, the command halted late that night 
on the banks of the Rio Grande, and about ten miles below 
the Mexican village. 

The Rangers now numbered one hundred picked men, and 
were led by Billingsley, their senior officer during Rutherford’s 
absence. The next morning five of the men who were sent 
out as scouts returned and reported that the supply-train had 
crossed a ford some twenty miles below, and that they were 
escorted by a regiment of Lancers. Regarding it inexpedient 
to attempt a raid against a train so well guarded, they at once 
decided to return. 

As they were so near the village, it was proposed that they 


156 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

should make a detour in that direction in the hope of meeting 
Ruperto and his men, whom Billingsley supposed would return 
this way, if they had not already passed over the Rio Grande, 
with the booty taken from the smugglers. 

Billingsley at once acquiesced to a proposition that his heart 
if not his judgment approved, and heading his men led them 
up the river and directed his course toward the village. 

When within a couple of miles of the place, on turning the 
spur of the mountain, which until now had hid it from sight, 
Billingsley, who rode in front of his men with Roderick beside 
him, heard the report of musketry, and at the same time be- 
held a dense smoke arising from the mountain. Calling to 
his men to follow, he dashed off at full speed, and the entire 
command galloped swiftly after him. As they rushed on they 
could hear the sharp report of the guns, and the smoke be- 
came more dense. 

Billingsley was satisfied that Ruperto and his men had made 
an attack on the village, and he spurred his horse to its full 
speed. As they arrived at the base of the hill leading up to 
the town, he could see the flames shooting forth from the 
houses, and could hear the yells of the robbers who had 
forced the men back into the fort, and were now storming 
it. Dashing up the road like a mad man, he gained the sum- 
mit, and led his men across the plaza and through the burning 
buildings to the charge. 

Ruperto at once perceived the Rangers, and drew his men 
into a position to repel the attack. The soldiers, led by their 
gallant lieutenant, rushed into the very midst of Ruperto 
and his men, who staggered back as the charge was made. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 57 

Recovering themselves, however, and being hemmed in, they 
returned the fire and pressed back the Rangers, who in return 
poured a volley of musketry into the ranks of the freebooters. 

In the mean time the men in the fort recognizing the voice 
of Billingsley, sallied forth and joined in the fight. 

Charging and repulsing each other, they fought through the 
plaza, until they came to the brow of the hill, down which the 
road led to the prairie. For a moment Ruperto rallied his 
men, but the Rangers again charged them, and they went 
pell-mell down the road and, arriving at the base, struck off 
into the valley, and continued their rapid flight, until they 
were entirely lost to the view of the men who crowded to the 
brow of the hill and watched their friends as they drove them 
into the mountains. 

After the robbers had disappeared, Billingsley and his men 
returned to the village, part of which was now a smouldering 
ruin. Crossing the plaza where the fight had been the most 
severe, they saw quite a number of the slain robbers. Scat- 
tered among them were five or six of their own men, and in the 
center of a walk, on either side of which were several orange 
trees, they beheld the lifeless body of an old man whom Bil- 
lingsley recognized as the father of Isabella. He lay upon his 
back, and the blood still oozed from a wound in his breast. 
Passing in, Billingsley directed his course to the fort, and on 
his way was met by Rudolph, who informed him that Isabella 
was with her father, who was severely wounded. The victory 
had been won, but at a severe cost. It would be impossible 
to express the sore agony of Isabella as she bent over her 
grandfather, too surely wounded to the death. Rising from his 


158 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

side, as Billingsley entered, she was too overcome to speak. 
With womanly modesty she extended her hand to him, which 
he raised to his lips, and the two knelt by the side of the 
dying man. He was too far gone to speak, and his eyes had 
that' glassy film which indicated that his life was rapidly 
drawing to a close. A few moments later, and the two held 
the hand of a corpse. 

When it was made known that the Alcaide was dead, the 
two sons with suppressed sobs lifted Isabella by the arms, and 
supporting her on either side moved out of the fort and car- 
ried her to her room at the hacienda, where she was left with 
her nurse, who had accompanied them. Returning to the 
fort, the two young men were met by Billingsley, who in- 
formed them of the death of Isabella’s father. 

The old man, on foot, had rushed from the fort when he 
recognized the Rangers, and in the dreadful charges that were 
made had joined in, and, with a heroism that attracted both 
friend and foe, had met the shock of battle, seemingly indif- 
ferent to his own fate, but nerved only to drive back the 
invader and secure the safety of his child. In the very cen- 
ter of the plaza he had received his death wound. 

Assisted by several of the Rangers, the body of the old 
man was borne into the fort and laid by the side of the 
Alcaide. Throughout the village were heard the screams of 
the women whose husbands or sons had fallen in the fight. 
On one side of the plaza some ten or fifteen houses had been 
reduced to a smouldering ruin, and the smoke lifted itself 
above the scene of desolation and was wafted by the winds 
across the valley. The Rangers dismounted and walked over 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 59 

the plaza, stopping here and there as they recognized one of 
their men, either dead or wounded. 

The beautiful grounds where the villagers were wont to 
gather and pass the quiet evenings with their friends and 
families presented a sad picture. The sun shone brightly, 
and the shadows lifted themselves as the wind stirred the 
branches, revealing bright spots on the gravelly walks, and as 
they were relayed and sank gently back, as if wearied with 
their eternal pastime, they would disappear, and the heavy 
shades would again spread themselves over the paths. Thus 
shadow and sunshine alternated, chasing each other like the 
joys and sorrows that beset our pathway through life. 

Isabella, too overcome by the death of her grandfather, 
was not told of that other great sorrow which was still to 
bear her soul down with a grief inexpressible, a grief that 
was almost great enough to crush out the very life of the 
young girl. Lying upon her couch with Donnorega bending 
over her, but with her face concealed by the folds of a shawl 
thrown over her head, a stillness like death itself pervaded 
the room. Not a word was spoken or a groan uttered, and 
each seemed silently absorbed in their own grief. 

Into these sacred precincts no one was bold enough to 
enter. Only once had Billingsley crossed the threshold. On 
the morning when he started with the cavalcade he had sat by 
the side of Isabella, and the two had entered into vows as 
sacred as those which she made to the Blessed Virgin after 
he had left her. 

That afternoon the sons of the Alcaide and Billingsley sat 
on one of the seats in the plaza. The bodies of the men 


i6o 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


slain in the fight had been removed into the houses, and prep- 
arations were being made to bury them. The plaza was filled 
with armed men gathered in groups and in close conversa- 
tion. 

Most of the villagers, though residing on Mexican soil, were 
connected in some way with the Americans either by birth or 
marriage, and in some instances by both ; hence they were 
regarded with suspicion by the government, and a close watch 
was kept on their movements. As some of the men and 
women were of undoubted Mexican parentage, and no effort 
had been made to render assistance to the Texans, they re- 
mained unmolested. 

Such was the condition of affairs at the village when Bil- 
lingsley was brought to the hacienda on the evening he was 
wounded in the fight with the Camanche Indians. 

The attack on the village by the bandits was more for the 
purpose of pillage than to avenge themselves of any fancied 
wrong to the government. Indeed, they were unscrupulous 
as to these things, their only desire being a thirst for pillage, 
and wherever it could be obtained they regarded neither friend 
nor foe. 

Billingsley sat near the two young men with his head bowed 
down, and seemingly absorbed in the deepest thought. His 
distress for Isabella was paramount to all others, though his 
heart was sad at the loss of some of his best men, who had 
been made a sacrifice in order that his friends might be res- 
cued from the hands of the robbers. The death of the Alcaide 
and the father of Isabella added to the deep distress which 
permeated his bosom. But amid all these things, the intense 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. l6l 

agony he endured when it should become necessary to break 
the sad news of the death of her father to her seemed the 
greatest. 

How could he bear the sad tidings to her ! and yet who 
could so gently break the news ? He had seen her for only 
a short time since his return. Not a word had passed be- 
tween them. Sitting on either side of the Alcaide, as his life 
flickered like an expiring lamp and then went out forever, he 
had only caught sight of her face as she arose and extended 
to him her hand. Burying her face in her handkerchief, to 
hide her unutterable grief, she had not removed it when her 
two uncles raised her from the dead body of her grandfather 
and bore her away to the hacienda. 


162 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Roderick sat by the side of Billingsley with his eyes resting 
upon those seemingly inaccessible heights which stretched 
themselves away in the distance, with the blue outlines of the 
mountains mingling with the azure of the heavens, and blend- 
ing themselves in the infinity of space, until both mountain 
and sky seemed one great chain binding the visible with the 
invisible, a link between God’s great white throne and his 
footstool. Rising from his seat, he stood before Billingsley, 
and taking him by the hand said, “ We had better go to the 
hacienda and inform Isabella of the death of her father.” 

“ I know it is a sad task to perform,” he continued; “but it 
must be done sooner or later, and I think it may be best to 
break the news to her at once.” 

Eager for an interview with her, but with a heart throbbing 
with the deepest anguish, he arose from his seat and walked 
across the plaza toward the hacienda. Entering the hall, he 
passed along toward the lower extremity, and, halting, knocked 
softly at the door of the private reception-room. In a few 
moments it was opened by Donnorega, who bowed him in 
and passed out into the hall. 

Isabella was kneeling before the crucifix with her eyes 
resting upon the sad but expressive face of the Virgin Mary. 
Without looking up as Billingsley stood near the door, she 
exclaimed in accents so sad and touching that his very heart 
seemed crushed and his eyes filled with tears, “ Oh ! thou 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 163 

mother of the Son Immaculate! who didst see him as he 
hung upon the accursed cross, and didst hear the groans and 
sighs he uttered, and beheld the great drops of blood that 
stood upon his agonized countenance, and didst hear the jeers 
and insults heaped upon him by the maddened crowd, and the 
dying groans he uttered, pray to have mercy upon me, that 
the cup of wormwood and gall of which I must drink may be 
to my soul as a propitiation for all sin, and draw me nearer to 
the blessed cross, that under its shadow I may find that solace 
which shall give rest to my soul.” 

She stopped speaking, and bent her head upon the table 
that held the crucifix. 

For several moments a deep silence reigned throughout the 
room. Composing himself for a short time he gently called 
her name. 

Raising her head instantly, and perceiving Billingsley stand- 
ing near the door, she arose and crossing the room gave him 
her hand, which he raised to his lips, and leading her to a low 
cushioned seat, she sat down, and he took a seat beside her. 

The sun, sinking low in the west, streamed through the 
window, revealing to her companion a face so pale and wan 
that his heart seemed to fail him, and he thought it impossible 
for him to break the sad intelligence of the death of her father 
to her. Summoning up courage, but with a husky and falter- 
ing voice he said, “ Isabella, the grief we endure for the dead, 
though it may be unspeakable, and though our souls may be 
tempest tossed, and the darkness of despair may settle like a 
funeral pall over it, yet amid all these afflictions, there comes 
the glad sunshine of the Resurrection Morn, when the clouds 


164 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

were dispersed and the thunders were stilled, and the feverous 
earth that was rent by the earthquake shock had rocked itself 
into a seeming quiet and restfulness. It is only from Him, 
before whose image this evening I have beheld you kneel 
and implore assistance, that we may come in the lone hours 
of affliction and find a holy peace and quiet that is to the soul 
self-sustaining, for all our strength must come from Him alone. 
Pausing for a moment, he continued, to-day you have looked 
upon death as he swept his icy fingers across the brow of your 
grandfather, and have seen his life pass away without a strug- 
gle or a groan. In driving back these miscreants from your 
home, he has fallen, and with him many brave men, some 
whom you knew, and others who came at my bidding to rescue 
this village and those whom I hold most dear from the assail- 
ants are this evening quietly sleeping a sleep that knows no 
waking, and among them, more heroic than they all, lies 
your” — and with a wild scream, and throwing her arms above 
her head she said, “ My father!” and fell fainting upon the 
floor. 

Opening the door and calling loudly for some one, Don- 
norega, who stood at the back entrance of the hall, came rush- 
ing in, and picking up the almost lifeless form of the girl laid 
her on the lounge, and taking a goblet of water sprinkled her 
face. Billingsley, too frightened to assist, stood by, and it was 
with a sigh of relief that he beheld her revive and look 
around. Reaching forth her hand to him, he went to her side, 
and taking it between both of his pressed it between them, 
but was silent. 

“ My poor old father !” she exclaimed ; “ and have you too 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 165 

sacrificed a life which has been but a sacrifice to your darling 
child since her infancy, in protecting her from those who would 
perhaps despitefully use her.” And raising her head and ex- 
tending her hand to the Virgin Mary, she cried, “Oh, blessed 
Virgin ! make intercession for me, that this last but greatest 
sorrow may find me nearer to Christ; and give me strength, 
oh ! thou Son, the Immaculate, to bear up under this great 
affliction that has fallen like a blight upon my young life, 
bearing it down with a grief that is unutterable and past find- 
ing out.” 

Withdrawing her hand from him who above all others she 
would have turned to for relief in this trying hour, she hid her 
head in the folds of a spread and wept bitterly. 

Silently withdrawing from the room, Billingsley passed 
through the hall and directed his steps toward the plaza, 
where he found Rudolph occupying the same seat that he had 
left him on, but his brother had gone to the fort where the 
bodies of the two old men were laid out by the side of each 
other. 

. The sun as it set that evening spread over the western sky 
a burnished light, like the reflection of a fire; and a quiet 
like the stillness of the grave seemed to permeate the atmos- 
phere. Gradually the bright scarlet faded from the heavens, 
and it assumed a leaden hue, growing paler and more indis- 
tinct until night hid it entirely from view. 

Dark clouds floated in the heavens, hiding the stars from 
sight. The flickering lights from the smouldering heaps, as 
they were stirred by the winds, went flying through the air 
like fire-flies fora moment and then disappeared. From the 


12 


i66 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


houses the glare of the fires around which the soldiers gath- 
ered streamed across the plaza. A supreme quiet seemed to 
reign throughout the village, broken only by the occasional 
neighing of a horse or the barking of a dog. 

About nine o’clock Billingsley and the two young men left 
the fort, and as they proceeded toward the hacienda, they 
were startled by what they supposed to be a deep groan aris- 
ing from the earth. At the same time they felt their feet 
slipping from under them, as if they stood upon a rolling ball. 
Falling upon their knees, the deep groan was repeated, and 
from the depths of the mountains a stream of fire shot forth, 
lighting up both the village and the valley. Almost instantly 
it died out, and then appeared again. Still upon their knees 
and looking toward the west, there came a violent rushing 
sound, and the earth trembled so vehemently that the north 
end of the fort fell with a heavy crash to the ground. Rocked 
like a cradle, the men fell with their faces to the earth, as if to 
hide from sight the dreadful view. Thrice it was repeated in 
a few minutes, and then all was still, save the shriek of the 
women in the village, the incessant barking of the dogs,* 
and the hoarse shouts of the men as they called to each other. 
It seemed to Billingsley that he could feel the earth trem- 
bling long after its subsidence. Darkness surrounded them, 
but, rising from their recumbent position, the three men direct- 
ed their course to the hacienda. The atmosphere was filled 
with a sulphurous odor, and seemed so rarified that it was 
difficult to breathe. 

The two young men had twice before felt the shock of an 
earthquake, but never so forcible as the one that had just 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 167 

subsided. On no other occasion had they seen the blue sul- 
phurous light that had streamed across the valley. An erup- 
tion must have taken place with it, perhaps many miles away 
in the the depths of the mountains. 

As they entered the hacienda they found its inmates in a 
terrible state of trepidation. The furniture was overturned 
and the pictures thrown from the walls and the wildest chaos 
seemed to rule throughout the building. At the door Bil- 
lingsley had met Isabella and her nurse almost overcome 
with fright. 

It was with difficulty that the women could be composed. 
The men themselves labored under so much alarm that their 
effort to allay that among the women was like trying to extin- 
guish a fire with oil, the more that was applied the more in- 
tense the heat. 

The soldiers had congregated in the plaza and had kindled 
fires, lighting up the entire village. Men, women, and chil- 
dren had also gathered with them, fearing to remain in their 
houses. Little damage however was done, but there was no 
sleep taken that night in the village. 

The next morning the men slain in the fight were buried in 
the graves prepared for them the evening previous. Back of 
the hacienda, in a grove, a single grave was prepared, in which 
the two old men who had for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury helped bear each others burthens, bound together by the 
sacred and hallowed memories of the past, and with but one 
single purpose in view, the happiness of their daughter, were 
laid side by side in a restful, dreamless sleep. 

The two young men had determined to accompany Billings- 


1 68 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

ley and his men, taking with them Isabella and her nurse. 
As the day was far spent, and it was necessary to make prep- 
aration to take the two women with them, it was decided to 
remain in the village another night, and make an early start 
the next morning, the balance of the day was consumed by 
those in the hacienda in making preparation to leave. The 
house was to be left with the attendants, Isabella and her nurse 
taking with them only their clothes and jewels. 

That afternoon, Billingsley, sad and lonely, strolled down 
the road toward the prairie, and passing up at the foot of the 
hill on which the village was situated came to the cascade, 
and seating himself on the bank watched the waters as they 
ran over the precipice and went foaming down the current, 
whirling into eddies and dashing against the rock that filled 
the center of the stream. 

He was sitting on the very spot where the Rangers had 
camped on the night after their fight with the Indians, and 
where they had beheld Rutherford as he emerged from be- 
hind the sheet of water. 

For an hour he sat and listened to the roar of the rushing 
waters, his mind absorbed by the memories of the past and 
the stirring incidents which had beset his pathway since he 
had left his old Kentucky home. Several years had passed 
since he had heard from those he had left behind. His poor 
old father had lived but a short time after the death of his 
mother, and his only sister had been cared for by her uncle. 
His younger brother had left home soon after the death of 
his father, and he too perhaps was a wanderer like himself in 
a strange and foreign land. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 169 

The shadows from the hills had extended far beyond him 
and out into the prairie before he arose and turned his steps 
away from this enchanting scene. The pleasures of this life 
are so interwoven with its troubles and perplexities that we 
are often at a loss to strike the dividing line, the one running 
into the other in such quick succession that it is impossible 
to separate them. They are like the pictures in the kaleido- 
scope, first bright, and then dark, but so rapid the change 
that we do not catch sight of the one before the other is 
presented to our view. They are the shadow and the sun- 
shine, the bright days and the dark, but they go to make up 
the grand panoramic view which, as it unfolds itself, not only 
pleases the eye, but gives a delightful sensation to the soul, 
lifting it above the sublunary affairs of this life and fixing it 
upon those divine truths that will ultimately lead it into a 
blissful repose and free it from the entangling snares that be- 
set our pathway. 

Amid all the troubles that harassed and vexed the soul of 
Billingsley, his love for Isabella so counterbalanced them 
that even now, surrounded by the passing events of the last 
few days, the very knowledge that he was so near her and 
that she would go with them so operated upon his mind that 
a kind of melancholy joy filled his heart, and he moved on 
toward the village, enjoying the beauties of nature and with 
his mind filled with many bright plans for the future. Young, 
blessed with uninterrupted health and buoyed with hope, “ for 
she springs eternal in the human breast,” why should he give 
way to the annoyances of this life. If the sun should go down 
to-day behind a mountain of dark and threatening clouds, to- 


170 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

morrow he may rise in all his kingly beauty, serene and calm, 
and mount up into the heavens with beams as radiant, as if 
the vapors of earth had never hid them from view. 

Walking through the plaza he gave instructions to his men 
to have every thing in readiness for an early start in the morn- 
ing, and then directed his steps to the hacienda anxious for 
an interview with Isabella. 

Meeting Donnorega in the hall, he requested an audience 
with the young girl ; and the nurse having informed her of 
the permission sought, he was invited into the reception-room. 
Here he found her more calm and composed than he had seen 
her since his return. A kind of heavenly resignation seemed 
to glow upon her countenance, giving her one of those sweet 
expressions that is peculiar to those whose souls are in close 
communion with their God; an expression of holy quiet, of 
restful repose, so to speak, in the love of him who in the great 
trials of life is able to overcome all the heart-aches and the 
bitter struggles incident to poor, frail, and erring mortality. 

Billingsley thought he had never seen Isabella appear more 
beautiful. Such are the emotions that fill the heart with that 
deep, fervent, abiding love that draws the finite to the infinite, 
uniting the pure of earth with that love which the angels in 
heaven manifest in shouts of rejoicing for Him who overcame 
the world, and, seated upon the right hand of the Father, 
welcomes into his presence all those who have washed their 
robes in the blood of the Lamb, and having passed through 
great tribulations have remained true and steadfast to the end. 

Anxious to draw her mind from the bitter reflections of the 
past few days, he requested that she would take a walk with 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


him into the pure, fresh evening air, hoping that the change 
from the close apartments in which she had been confined 
during the day would benefit her feelings and enable her to 
compose herself. 

Passing through the hall and out of the front door of the 
hacienda, and avoiding the crowd that was collected in the 
plaza, they turned to the left and passed around to the brow 
of the hill where Donnorega and Isabella had sat on the even- 
ing that they beheld Ruperto and his men pass over the prai- 
rie to make the attack on the smugglers. Seating themselves 
at the foot of a tree, the two looked out over the prairie, 
across which to-morrow they were to take their long journey 
toward the east, leaving behind them the little village where 
the young girl had passed a quiet, uneventful life, until the 
coming of him who now sat by her side, and who was hence- 
forth to guide and direct her pathway — a young manhood, 
strong and full of purpose, eager to sacrifice every enjoyment, 
and even life itself, were it necessary, for the tender, clinging 
loved one who sat by his side, a fragile mountain flower, pure 
as the winds that swept from the western heights, but as strong 
and unalterable in the love for him to whom she had plighted 
her young life as the oak that would set its roots deep into 
the mountain side, defying both the lightnings of the heavens 
and the strong winds that swept through its branches. 

Not forgetting the past, but hopeful of the future, Billings- 
ley, with his youthful imagination all aglow with the bright 
prospect of uninterrupted happiness, drew the mind of his 
companion into the same channel, until the two had pictured 
out a life all radiant with joy, without a cloud to obscure the 


172 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

brightness of the unchangeable sunlight in which they were 
to pass the intervening years. 

“ I have thought to-day,” he said, as he turned his gaze from 
the vast prairie to the face of his companion, and looked into 
the depths of her beautiful eyes, “ of the great unchangeable 
purposes of God, of his wonderful works, and his mysterious 
providence in overruling the destinies of his human creatures. 
We sit and look with fear and trembling at the dark and threat- 
ening clouds as they gather, and we see the lightning as it 
leaps from their bosom with its forked tongue, and hear the 
voice of the thunder as it shakes the solid earth, and our 
hearts are depressed, and in their silent depths we call upon 
him who we are taught holds the winds in the hollow of his 
hand ; yea, the very soul cries aloud for mercy and protec- 
tion. But let the clouds disperse and the beautiful sun once 
more shine forth, and all our misgivings are at an end. Do 
we then raise our voices in adoration to Him who has bid the 
raging elements ‘ Peace, be still/ and return our thanks for 
the divine protection which he has vouchsafed to us? Do 
you not hear the songs, the jests, the voice of merriment which 
come to us from the men gathered in the plaza ? Are they 
mindful of last night’s mysterious shaking up of the mount- 
ains, and the streaming fires that shot through the valleys, 
and the hoarse rumblings of that intestine war which raged 
in the bowels of the earth, until the upper crust could not 
contain the pent up gases ? Are the supplications for mercy 
remembered by them? I think not.” 

He stopped speaking as he beheld Roderick advance across 
the plaza and approach them. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 73 

“ I learned from Donnorega,” said Roderick as he stood 
beside them, “ that you had taken a walk, and I came forth 
to join you.” 

Billingsley, rising, took Isabella by the hand, and, lifting 
her up, turned to him and said that he was glad he came, and 
proposed that they go up to the fort and show Isabella the 
rent made in it by last night’s earthquake, and so the three 
strolled off together. 

The next morning, every thing being in readiness, Isabella 
and her nurse were mounted upon two Mexican horses. Af- 
ter bidding adieu to their friends, and with the Texas Ranger 
as an escort, they moved out from the village and took their 
long journey eastward. 


174 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

The boat on which Rutherford, accompanied by his wife 
and Lucy Ashton, took passage for New Orleans was crowded 
with passengers. Some were adventurers going south to bet- 
ter their fortunes, others bent on pleasure, while a few were 
directing their course toward the frontier, to take part in the 
contest that the Mexicans were waging against their coun- 
trymen who had taken up their abode on the soil of Texas, 
and were now contesting their right to a settlement in their 
adopted homes. Most of these men were accompanying 
Rutherford, and had been stimulated to join him by the 
exertions he had used since his return from the expedition 
made with others in the arrest of old man Ashton. 

In the ladies’ cabin were quite a number of young ladies 
on their way to New Orleans. The first night out, the young 
men organized themselves into a glee club, and with a fine 
band on board they spent most of the nights in music and 
dancing. 

Kate Rutherford and her young friend Lucy Ashton kept 
themselves aloof from the gay revelers, but looked on, and 
rather enjoyed both the music and the dancing. There was 
a time when Elate Rutherford would have been the leader in 
these pastimes, but of late her soul had been so tempest tossed, 
both on account of her own troubles and those of others, that 
she rather shunned than sought the presence of gay company. 

The history of Lucy Ashton was not known to the passen- 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 75 

gers, as she sat by the side of her friend, pale and beautiful. 
Since her troubles a kind of quiet resignation had settled 
over her countenance, giving her a peculiar charm that only 
is given those who have passed through great sorrows and 
are now submissive to any fate which heaven may assign 
them. Such spirits are like fine gold that has passed through 
the crucible and is now ready for the workmen, to be fash- 
ioned into those beautiful designs which the great Artificer 
shall stamp as pure and unalloyed, having been separated 
from all those gross impurities that tarnish them and depre- 
ciate their value. 

Sitting timidly by the side of her friend Kate Ruther- 
ford, and rather shrinking from observation than courting 
it, she was nevertheless sought after by several young men 
who would draw her from her seclusion and lead her into the 
midst of the gay throng, where the happy hours were being 
sung and danced away, and where the participants in the gayety 
were oblivious of every care, thoughtless of the future, and 
intent upon those enjoyments which the time and occasion 
presented. 

During the first few days of the trip, Kate Rutherford and 
Lucy Ashton spent a greater part of the time in each other’s 
company. 

“ It would seem/’ Lucy said one morning to her friend, “ that 
destiny had linked my fate with that of yourself and your hus- 
band. I can’t say why,” she said, “but on the night I sat by 
your husband’s side at the home of my poor unfortunate 
uncle, and he told me of his adventurous life, and dwelt on 
the devotion of his wife who had stood beside him in all its 


176 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

ups and downs, and the deep love and affection he had for 
her, my soul seemed to go out in sympathy for him ; and I 
felt that I should only be too happy to be the companion of 
such a loving, devoted woman, and be henceforth guided and 
directed by such a man. And when I saw him standing in 
the throng of eager, expectant men, who had been drawn 
thither to witness the remorse of an erring wretch and hear 
his doom pronounced, consigning him to a felon’s cell, a ray 
of hope seemed to inspire me, and I cried out in the agony 
of my soul for help.” 

When she stopped speaking Kate Rutherford kissed her, 
and said that henceforth she should be to them as a loving, 
devoted sister, and should be the partaker of all their joys ; 
“ and sorrows too,” Lucy said, “ if heaven should send such 
afflictions upon you.” 

These were not idle words spoken, but sprang from a heart 
as loving and devoted as ever pulsated in the human breast, 
and in after years were marked by an affection so strong, that 
the lives of these two women were a beautiful illustration of 
that love which continueth and abideth until death alone 
should separate them. 

Love is a divine attribute, and such lives are but temples 
erected for the indwelling of Christ, who himself is love. 
They are those who in the after-life become “ kings and high 
priests unto God.” They are the Marys and Marthas and 
Hannahs, the faithful women of every age, and the partakers 
of those divine blessings which heaven bestows upon those 
who have carved this “king of words” upon their hearts 
and have marked it upon their lives. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 77 

One evening the boat landed at a wood-yard. It was night, 
and the great shadow of the steamer mirrored in the waters 
looked like some prodigious sea monster, rising slowly as the 
winds lifted the waves and then sinking back into the dark- 
ness as they slowly receded. 

Upon the hurricane deck Rutherford and his wife and 
Lucy Ashton sat and watched the sparks as they were lifted 
from the great yawning mouth of the smoke-stack and went 
dancing through the air, ascending higher and higher, and 
then disappearing, as if to give place to others as they shot 
upward, cutting each other into zig-zag shapes, and shooting 
hither and thither in their mad frolics. 

In front of the boat large, crate-like iron baskets filled with 
resinous pine glared out upon the shore and lighted up the 
deep bosom of the forest, that stretched its interminable 
length up and down, and beyond the great wood-piles that 
lined the bank, and upon which the roustabouts with shouts 
and songs had seized upon and in a serried column were bear- 
ing hither to give life and motion to the great monster, whose 
measured puffs and yawning furnace-mouths stood open to 
receive it in its red voracious jaws. The scene was inspiring, 
and Lucy Ashton, who had never before traveled on a steam- 
boat, was completely carried away with the occasion, and 
gave vent to her feelings by clapping her hands, as the roust- 
abouts in their haste would tumble over each other, and ris- 
ing with cheerful songs begin again the race in which each 
would seem to contend for victory. Below them the sound 
of music and dancing was heard. Along the guards the pas- 
sengers were seated, smoking and chatting with each other. 


178 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

Wrapped in a great-coat, with his cap pulled over his fore- 
head, the captain of the boat stood in front of Rutherford and 
the two women, occasionally giving directions to those on 
shore, and stopping to address some pleasant remarks to the 
ladies. Above the noise and confusion below was heard the 
deep bass voice of the mate, as he would hurry up some lag- 
gard who was attempting to shirk duty. 

When the boat first landed, and while the clerk was meas- 
uring with his striped pole the long piles of wood that lined 
the bank, preparatory to the raid that was to be made upon 
it by the roustabouts, a man passed by him and thrust a paper 
in his hand. Busy in measuring the pile which lay before 
him, he stuck it in his pocket, thinking it was a memorandum 
to be looked after, but not demanding immediate attention. 

Just before the bell rang the third time, notifying those on 
board that the boat was ready to leave, five men came on, 
and walking up to the office requested passage for the next 
landing, about twenty miles below. After paying their fare 
they walked up to the bar and called for drinks. Three of 
them were large, muscular men; the other two were below 
the medium height. They were rather shabbily dressed, and 
presented the appearance of men who were engaged in cut- 
ting wood for the supply of steamboats. After taking their 
drinks they strolled leisurely through the cabin, looking at 
those engaged in dancing, and watching the games of cards 
that were being played by several parties in the front cabin of 
the boat. They were just such men as those on board had 
frequently seen getting on and off the boat, and had attracted 
the attention of no one. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 79 

After the boat had got under headway, and while the clerk 
was entering the amount of wood just taken in, he ran his 
hand in his pocket and drew forth the note that had been 
handed him while measuring the wood. Glancing over it, 
he looked around quickly, and perceiving that he was unob- 
served he stuck it into his pocket. Passing through the cabin, 
he hurriedly ascended the steps leading to the hurricane deck, 
and approaching the captain, who stood near the bell, he 
requested him to follow him into his room, which was in 
front of that portion of the boat known by rivermen as 
Texas. Entering the room and closing the door, the captain 
was handed the note which the clerk had received from the 
stranger on shore. Reading it slowly, and then reading it 
the second time before he spoke, he turned to the clerk and 
asked if the men had come on board. 

“There were five men,” he replied, “who came aboard 
just before the boat shoved out, and paid their passage for 
Glenwood Landing.” 

“ Do you know who gave you the note?” asked the cap- 
tain. 

“ I do not. While I was measuring the wood, a man passed 
by and handed me the note, and, thinking it was a memoran- 
dum to be attended to, I stuck it in my pocket.” 

For several moments the two men were silent, as if reflect- 
ing upon the contents of the note, which seemed to give them 
some uneasiness. 

At length the captain, rising and opening the door, re- 
quested the clerk to remain in the room. Going out, he 
called Rutherford, and said that he would like for him to 


i8o 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


take the ladies below and come to his room, pointing to the 
door in front of the cabin. Returning to the room, he im- 
patiently awaited the return of Rutherford, who occompanied 
the ladies to the cabin below. 

After a short time Rutherford knocked at the door, and 
the captain requested him to come in. Pointing to a chair 
near the table by which the two men sat, Rutherford seated 
himself, and the captain handed him the note which he held 
in his hand. Taking it, he read it, and in a surprised tone 
requested the captain to explain the rather too explicit con- 
tents. 

“ Do you not understand it?”' interrogated the captain; “ it 
seems to be very plain.” 

“ I should think so,” replied Rutherford. “ But where did 
the note come from ?” 

Being told, Rutherford turned to the captain and remarked, 
“ I suppose, if you are hailed as you approach the landing, you 
will, of course, not land the boat in response thereto.” 

“ That is just why I have requested an interview with you. 
We have a passenger to put off at Glenwood Landing.” 

“ Does he live there?” queried Rutherford. 

“Yes; a gentleman by the name of Sam Jones. You may 
have noticed him — a tall, ruddy-cheeked fellow, full of life, 
and one of the most sociable and companionable fellows on 
the river. He owns a plantation near the landing, and sup- 
plies the steamboats with wood. He got on at Memphis, and 
would never forgive me for not putting him off. Yes; we 
will be compelled to land.” 

After a few moments’ thought, Rutherford suggested to the 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. l8l 

captain that the men he had with him as recruits for the Texan 
army should be notified of the danger and requested to arm 
themselves and take a position in the cabin to repulse an 
attack, if one should be made. 

The note that had been handed the clerk was a warning 
that five men would come aboard and take passage for Glen- 
wood Landing. “These men,” the writer of the note said, 
" were to remain on board, and when the boat landed twenty 
of their confederates were to join them, and, overpowering 
the officers, rob the boat.” 

As but little time was allowed them to make preparation, 
and as they did not wish to create a panic among the passen- 
gers or give the alarm to the five men on board, it was deter- 
mined that Rutherford should call his men together at once 
and notify them of the intended attack, and have them in 
readiness when the boat landed. 

In half an hour all preparation had been made, and while 
the boat was blowing for the landing the fifteen men, heavily 
armed, entered the cabin and stood near the bar. 

It was midnight, and the captain stood upon the deck and 
looked out upon the shore, eager to scan the crowd that he 
expected would line it ready to make the descent upon the 
boat. As she swung around, and with measured puffs neared 
the shore, a negro man stood upon the bank waving a pine 
torch. No other person was to be seen. 

“ The scoundrels !” the captain said to the clerk, who stood 
by his side, “ they no doubt are hid back; but let them come 
on, and I will guarantee with the assistance of Rutherford 
and his men we will give them a warm reception. Keep a 

x 3 


182 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


sharp lookout, and when they approach the boat we must 
draw our pistols and at once descend to the cabin.” 

Slowly the pilot steered the boat to the landing. When she 
struck, the captain in rather a husky tone called out to shove 
the staging ashore. The negro with his flambeau stood just 
above them. 

As soon as the staging was shoved on shore, and while the 
captain was peering into the darkness beyond, the five men 
who had taken passage for Glenwood Landing walked out, 
followed by Sam Jones, who, as he stepped on the landing, 
turned to the captain and said, “Well, Boss, this is a beau- 
tiful night, and would have been a bewitching hour for the 
twenty men you seem to be looking after to have boarded 
your old chicken coop and taken possession of her.” 

Snatching hold of the bell-rope and giving it such a pull 
that the peal startled the passengers below, he called out, 
in reply to this taunt, “Never mind, Sam Jones; I will get 
even with you for this little trick of yours, if it takes me half 
a life-time.” 

Sam Jones, as he stood upon the shore opposite the old cap- 
tain, called out, “ Come to see us, Old Boss ; come about hog- 
killing time, and we will give you a mess of back-bone and 
spare-rib.” 

“ Go to thunder with you and your hogs !” vociferated the 
captain as the boat pulled off from the shore and turned down 
the current. 

Several of the. passengers who stood below, and had heard 
the conversation between the captain and Sam Jones, and 
having been apprised of the expected attack, at once took in 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 183 

the situation, and when the old fellow came dow r n they eagerly 
rushed up to him, and rubbing their hands over him inquired 
if he had received any wounds. 

“ Well, boys !” he said, “ the old man acknowledges the sell, 
and if you will say no more about it, he will stand treat for the 
crowd. It is better that the juice of the corn should flow 
than blood; and I acknowledge the corn, by standing treat, 
that I was a little uneasy that the fellows would come down 
upon us, and either demolish us or we them. ,, 

With a loud hurrah, at the captain’s pun, the men gathered 
around the bar, and the tenders began to prepare the drinks 
for the crowd. 

The uproar had waked up most of the passengers, and the 
men came out, anxious to learn what was creating the distur- 
bance. The story was soon told, and they too joined the men 
at the bar, and drank to the many toasts that were given to 
captain in commemoration of the hoax that Sam Jones had 
played on him. 

The five men who had come aboard the boat at the landing 
above were wood-choppers employed by Jones. Only a few 
weeks previous a set of thieves had made an attack on a boat, 
but were repulsed. Sam Jones, a complete wag and a great 
friend of the captain’s, had conceived the idea of playing a 
joke on him, as the men he had hired were expected to get 
on at the landing above Glen wood. Jones had prepared the 
note previous to the landing, and had given it to one of the 
men on board the boat, to be handed to the clerk while en- 
gaged in measuring up the wood. The sell was a good one, 
and was not only enjoyed by the men, but by the ladies, who 


184 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


the next morning teased the good-natured old captain on his 
gallant repulse of the enemy. 

Without accident, and with the best of feeling between the 
passengers, who during the long trip had become well ac- 
quainted with each other, the boat landed in New Orleans 
and discharged its precious cargo of human beings, many to 
part to meet no more forever. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


185 


CHAPTER XIX. 

New Orleans with its Creole population, the descendants of 
those adventurous Frenchmen who had claimed Lousiana for 
their Bourbon king, and had erected the standard bearing the 
eagle of France upon her alluvial shores, were then the gay, 
light-hearted habitues who regarded the day for what it 
brought forth, chasing the happy hours away, indifferent to 
its vexations and to the future, seemingly to realize that only 
the passing moments were their own, from which they could 
snatch the fleeting joys as they passed, unburthened with no 
care or sorrow. Quick and impulsive, eager to resent an 
insult, but generous and forbearing, they were just such char- 
acters as are hard to be brought to contemplate the future, 
with all its mysterious surroundings and the inevitable destiny 
to which it brings each of us. Some great divine has said, 
that when a man is brought to think, his salvation is near at 
hand. 

A few days before Rutherford and his friends arrived in 
New Orleans, John Newland Maffltt, one of the most cele- 
brated divines that had ever preached the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness to dying men, had come hither, and the 
gay city was upheaved like some great ocean by the fire of 
his eloquence, as he held up the cross, all blood-stained from 
the heights of Calvary, and as he invited men to enlist and 
take up their march to the kingdom of God, where walls of 
jasper glittered with no armed hosts to impede their progress, 


1 86 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


and whose pearly gates were stretched open with no sentinel 
to demand a countersign, but where the inhabitants stood with 
shouts of rejoicing, to encourage them on and give them a 
hearty welcome into the presence of the Kings of kings, and 
Lords of lords, and a peaceful entrance into those joys that 
were to remain forever more. This pious man of God, of 
whom it was said afterward, that he died of a broken heart by 
the ingratitude of his own people, never preached with so 
much force and power as he did to those Creoles of New 
Orleans. 

Perhaps no man since the days of Whitefield had held large 
audiences so entranced by the matchless power of his elo- 
quence. It seemed the Spirit of God had so taken possession 
of the man that he spoke as with a tongue of fire; and strong 
men bowed the knee and wicked men wept as he pictured to 
them Calvary and the dying Lord, who had taken upon him- 
self their sins, and had offered himself up as a propitiation 
therefor, while the reeling earth groaned, and the graves of 
the dead were opened, and the heavens were darkened, and 
the mighty earthquake shook as if in horror at the great sac- 
rifice that was made for man’s redemption. 

The night after their arrival in New Orleans, Rutherford, 
accompanied by his wife and Lucy Ashton, went around to 
hear this justly celebrated divine preach. Though they came 
early they found the church crowded, and it was with difficulty 
that they could get a seat. The text selected for the occasion 
was the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, twenty-second 
verse : “ For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 
made alive.” It would be impossible to picture to the imag- 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 87 

ination the scene, as this great Apostle of God, after showing 
how, by the sin of one man, death came into the world and 
established his supreme reign over all, striking down the aged 
and the young, the prince and the peasant, the rich and the 
poor, until the bosom of the earth had become one great burial 
ground, and the heavens rent with one great despairing cry 
of distress, rising from every portion of the habitable globe 
and borne upon the winds and filling every ear with the 
piercing, wretched sound, at length turned from the harrowing 
scene and drew a picture of the resurrection morn, when 
the Angels of God, descending from heaven upon the newly 
made tomb of Arimathaea, and rolling away the stone, wel- 
comed the risen Savior as he came forth, and with shouts of 
joy bore the glad message back to heaven, that the dead was 
alive and the lost was found. Alleuiah ! alleuiah ! the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth! 

The vast audience swayed like a mighty forest when the 
winds rush through it. And when he told them that this risen 
Savior had brought life and immortality to all men who believe 
on him, and was a propitiation for the sins of each of them, 
and all were invited to come unto him and be saved, shouts 
of rejoicing went up from the vast congregation, and the 
entire audience was bathed in tears. When the invitation 
was given to come to Jesus, and the aisles were filled with 
repentant men and women flocking to the altar, Rutherford 
and his wife and Lucy Ashton bowed together before the 
throne of grace and invoked God’s blessing upon their souls. 

Standing among this mighty array of penitent mourners, 
whose suppressed sobs plainly indicated the deep feeling that 


i88 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


was pervading the entire audience, Mr. Maffitt cried out, 
“ Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest ! Come, without money and without price ! 
Come, and though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall 
be as wool !” 

Many heavy hearts went away that night feeling justified 
and praising God for his great mercies unto the children of 
men. 

The night services had wrought an entire change in the 
breast of Rutherford. But we will not anticipate the events 
that were to draw forth this remarkable man and in after life 
make him one of the most earnest and devoted followers in 
the army of the living God. 

One morning, just before Rutherford left New Orleans, in 
looking over a Louisville paper he was surprised to read the 
announcement that old man Ashton, who had been convicted 
of counterfeiting and sentenced to death, was found dead in 
his cell, supposed to have died from remorse. 

The arrest, trial, and conviction of old man Ashton had 
never been made known to Lucy, and his horrible fate was 
never told her. 

Preparations had been made to leave New Orleans, and 
the men accompanying Rutherford were notified to be on 
board the boat that was to leave the next morning for Natch- 
itoches. 

That morning Rutherford came into the room where his 
wife and Lucy Ashton were busy making preparations for the 
start, and in rather a gleeful manner told his wife that he had 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 89 

just received dispatches from his command giving him the 
joyful intelligence that Lieutenant Billingsley was not killed, 
as they had supposed, but was now with the company. At 
the mention of the name of Billingsley, Lucy Ashton turned 
suddenly pale, and would have fallen from the chair had she 
not been caught by Kate Rutherford, who had noticed the 
pallor that overspread her face and the reeling motion of her 
body as it bent forward. 

“ What in the world is the matter, Lucy!” exclaimed Ruth- 
erford, as he came to the relief of his wife, who supported 
her in her arms, and sprinkled water in her face. For sev- 
eral moments she gasped as if something clogged her breath, 
but was silent. 

Rising from the arms of her friend, she left the room, 
while Rutherford and his wife looked after her, wondering 
what could so have overcome her. 

Going into her own room, Lucy Ashton threw herself on 
the bed and wept bitterly. Following her into her room, 
Kate Rutherford was surprised to find her young friend so 
overcome with grief, and lying down by her side she im- 
plored her to tell her what was the matter. 

Rising from the bed and standing before Kate Rutherford, 
with the tear drops still bathing her long, dark lashes, giving 
an expression to the liquid eye at once beautiful and full of 
sadness, she related to her friend for the first time her history. 
“ My name,” she said, “ is not Ashton, though for several 
years I have been known by no other. Left at an early age 
an orphan by the death of my mother and father, I was brought 
into the family of my poor, unfortunate uncle, and for pur- 


190 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

poses I need not relate to you I was called after him. My 
father’s name was Billingsley, and for the first time in many, 
many long months have I heard the name called. I had two 
brothers, and several years ago, after the death of our mother, 
the elder went from our home, and for along time I have heard 
nothing of him. The younger, my baby brother, after the death 
of our father, which occurred a year after the death of our 
mother, went from our old home, and in a few short months 
intelligence was brought to us that he had died at the home 
of a relative in Southern Kentucky. As to our elder brother, 
I have never known where fortune or perhaps misfortune may 
have carried him. When the name was mentioned this even- 
ing in connection with Captain Rutherford’s company, the 
thought at once suggested itself that perhaps it was my broth- 
er, and that a strange destiny was again uniting us, which I 
had supposed would never occur this side of the grave.” 

She stopped speaking, and, throwing herself upon the bed, 
covered her face with her hands. 

Kate Rutherford for several moments lay beside her, and 
then rising, went into the room and informed her husband of 
the history of their young friend. 

The next morning Rutherford, accompanied by his wife 
and the young girl and more than fifty recruits, stood upon 
the deck of the steamboat and waved an adieu to their friends 
on the shore. 

At Natchitoches Rutherford learned that Santa Ana was 
pressing back the brave Texans under General Houston, and 
he at once turned their horses’ heads in the direction of the 
retreating army. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 191 

On the fifth evening after leaving the Mexican village the 
Texas Rangers, under the command of Lieutenant Billings- 
ley, went into camp on the banks of a beautiful stream of 
water, a tributary of the Colorado, and about seventy-five 
miles above the Alamo. The next morning about sunrise Bil- 
lingsley and Roderick walked out on the prairie. The morn- 
ing was clear, and the crisp atmosphere of that invigorating 
quality as to make the blood tingle as it rushed through the 
veins, diffusing a greater degree of vitality to the system and 
nerving it to renewed action. 

“ I feel,” said Billingsley, as he drew himself up and in- 
haled a long breath, “ as if I could run a foot-race this bright, 
beautiful morning.” 

As the two men stood and talked, a low, rumbling sound 
came stealing over the prairies. They stood and listened as 
the sound died away, but did not interpret its significance. 
It was the first signal-gun of distress from the. Alamo. At 
the same hour, not many miles away, another soldier listened 
with sad forebodings to the signal-gun echoing its peals of 
distress from the beleaguered Texans. It was General Sam 
Houston, the man who in all that eventful struggle was the 
“ Chevalier Bayard” of the Texan army ; but now, in her dire 
extremity, was as helpless as the gallant soldiers with whom he 
was surrounded to bring succor to the heroic men whose sig- 
nal-gun was calling for relief. 

Moving toward the southeast, the Texas Rangers that even- 
ing camped with the main body of the Texan army under the 
command of General Houston. 

Having sent Isabella and Donnorega to the home of a gen- 


192 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

tleman on the Upper Colorado, the Rangers for the next four 
weeks were almost continually in the saddle. 

Morning after morning, at sunrise, the signal-gun from the 
Alamo sent its peals of distress across the prairies of Texas. 
The Texan soldiers each morning heard it, but their arms 
were powerless to bring relief to their friends. One morning 
the signal was not given, and then came the sad news of the 
fall of the garrison and the horrid massacre of its inmates. 

Greece has her history of the Thermopylae ; America her 
Saratoga and Yorktown; and England her Little Redan and 
Balaklava; but no investment in the history of any country, 
whether of the conqueror or the conquered, contains a 
record of more heroism and self-sacrifice than was displayed 
by these gallant men in that terrible crisis, when the fate of 
Texas and her heroic sons hung in the balance. 

The blood that was spilled within these gory walls was but 
a cement that bound together these sons of Texas, and in the 
last charge at San Jacinto became the battle cry, that put the 
enemy to flight, and made this fair country forever the com- 
mon heritage for all freemen. 

Flushed with success at the overthrow of the Alamo, Santa 
Ana pressed forward, driving back the Texans, who stubbornly 
yielded to the overwhelming advance of the enemy. 

On the twentieth of April Rutherford, with fifty well-armed 
men, worn with a fatiguing march from Natchitoches, went 
into camp ten miles above San Jacinto, where General Hous- 
ton had made a stand, determined either to drive back the 
enemy or suffer annihilation. There was to be no compromise. 
The fight was to decide the fate of Texas and the Texans. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 93 

Resting on their arms on that memorable battle-ground, the 
night of the twentieth of April quickly passed away. The 
next morning the troops under Santa Ana began the attack. 
The Texan Rangers under command of Lieutenant Billings- 
ley were on the right. That morning Rutherford and his men 
came forward and at once joined in the fight, which now 
became terrific. It would appear that the Angel of God, who 
had put to flight the armies of Sennacherib, nerved these 
brave men to deeds of valor that have no parallel in history. 
With a shout that sent terror to the hearts of the Mexican 
soldiers, and with the watch word, “Remember the Alamo!” 
the Texans fought “ like very devils.” Forced back at one 
time, but recovering themselves, they again sent up shouts of 
defiance and, rushing into the very midst of the Mexicans, 
they whirled them back like chaff before the wind. 

On the right a regiment of Mexican Lancers were pressing 
back Lieutenant Billingsley and his men, when Rutherford, 
recognizing them, with a wild shout, and leading his recruits, 
galloped to the front, and turning to his command cried out, 
“ Follow me, my brave boys !” And, as the Rangers recognized 
their gallant captain, they raised a yell that seemed prophetic 
of the doom of the Mexican army, and rushed with such 
impetuosity against their assailants that they were forced to 
turn their horses and gallop out of the range of the deadly 
fire, that was poured into their ranks. 

At length, pressed back on all sides, the Mexicans became 
panic-stricken, and fled from the battle-field pursued by the 
Texans, who made the victory complete by capturing a large 
number of the troops, among whom was General Santa Ana. 


194 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


Roderick and Rudolph Travino fought by the side of Lieu- 
tenant Billingsley, and, in one of the desperate charges in 
which the Rangers were driven back, Rudolph was missing. 

In the last repulse of the enemy, when Rutherford made 
his appearance and led his men to the charge, Lieutenant 
Billingsley received a severe wound in shoulder, but without 
halting he pushed on with the troops — when, faint from the 
wound, he halted, dismounted, and laid down at the foot of a 
tree. Flushed with victory, and determined to make it signal 
and decisive, the Texans pursued the enemy, and it was late 
in the evening before they returned and instituted search for 
their missing friends. 

It would be impossible to convey to the mind the wild 
shouts that arose from the Texas Rangers as they charged 
after Rutherford in that gallant repulse which secured victory 
to the Texan army. 

After the hard fight was over, these brave men surrounded 
their captain, and, as he said afterward, “I thought they would 
almost devour me.” The Rangers, returning that evening to 
the battle-field, sought among the dead for their missing 
friends. 

Lieutenant Billingsley was found reclining at the foot of the 
tree where he had lain himself after dismounting from his 
horse. He was suffering a great deal from his wound, which, 
though severe, was not considered dangerous. 

Rutherford and Roderick late that night, with a torch, 
sought for the body of Rudolph, who was supposed to have 
been killed in the last desperate charge, and just before Ruth- 
erford made his appearance. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 1 95 

Passing over that portion of the battle-field, near a clump 
of bushes they found the dead body of the young man. He 
was lying on his back, and so composed were his features, as 
the light from the torch fell upon him, that he looked as if he 
were asleep. Kneeling beside him, his brother raised his 
head and kissed him. The young soldier had fought his first 
and last fight, and he peacefully slept upon the gory battle- 
field of San Jacinto, where, upon the twenty-first of each 
April, the Sons of Liberty will reconsecrate to the memory 
of its gallant heroes, with songs and budding flowers, the day 
that brought peace to their beloved country. The next morn- 
ing, the young soldier was buried on the battle-field, and his 
grave marked so that at some future time his remains might 
be disinterred and borne to some other place of sepulcher. 


196 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


CHAPTER XX. 

It was thought best to carry Lieutenant Billingsley to the 
home of Mr. Lacey on the Colorado, where Isabella and Don- 
norega had been sent. 

As the ball had only entered the fleshy part of his shoulder, 
without breaking any bones, on the second day after the fight 
he was enabled to make the start on horseback, accompanied 
by Roderick and four of the Rangers who were detailed by 
Captain Rutherford to go with him. The second day after 
leaving the camp they arrived at the home of Mr. Lacey. 
It had been determined not to inform Isabella of the death 
of her uncle, as it was thought, after the recent severe afflic- 
tions she had passed through, that the shock would be too 
great for her. 

The glad news of the result of the battle of San Jacinto 
set the people wild with rejoicing. Isabella and her nurse 
joined in with the family and neighbors, and almost forgot 
their own troubles in the general rejoicing which followed 
the news that the men heralded to the country through which 
they passed. 

The wounded lieutenant stood the trip so well that when 
he arrived at the residence of Mr. Lacey he was enabled to 
dismount from his horse and move forward with so much of 
his accustomed alacrity that it was not known for some time 
that he had been shot. This was the result of the antici- 
pated meeting with Isabella that had nerved him to push for- 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


197 


ward regardless of his wound. This overexertion resulted 
in a high fever the next day. For several days the fever 
seemed to abate slowly, and his friends watched by him with 
the closest attention. During the day Isabella remained al- 
most constantly by his side. The wound healed rapidly, and 
by careful nursing he was soon able to go about. Isabella 
was his constant companion. With her he roamed over the 
prairies gathering the beautiful flowers and arranging them 
into wreaths and bouquets, with which he would crown his 
fair companion as his beautiful Queen of May. Donnorega 
would often go with them, and she watched with all the ten- 
derness of a woman’s nature the radiant smiles and the joy- 
ful expression which indicated the contentment that had long 
been foreign to the young girl whom she loved with all the 
affection of a mother for an only daughter. The two young 
people were happy — happy in the enjoyment of each other’s 
society, and happy that the war cloud which had hung over 
the country was dissipating, and that the golden sun of peace 
was dawning, bringing an era of happiness to those who had 
so long been the victims of this unholy crusade. 

For several days after the battle the soldiers scoured the 
country, and many prisoners were captured. The balance 
of the Mexican army took a precipitous flight for the border. 

Ten days after the battle a courier arrived at the residence 
of Mr. Lacey from Rutherford, announcing that he would 
pass there with his command in a few days, and that Lieu- 
tenant Billingsley and Isabella and her nurse would hold 
themselves in readiness to accompany him to the Upper Col- 
orado, where Kate Rutherford and Lucy Ashton had been 

14 


198 BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 

sent just before Rutherford and his recruits had pushed for- 
ward to engage in the fight that had taken place on the gory 
field of San Jacinto. 

Kate Rutherford and Lucy Ashton were staying at the res- 
idence of their old friend, Mr. Ashwood, where Kate had 
spent the first few months of her residence in Texas. 

It now became necessary to break the news of the death 
of Rudolph Travino to Isabella. On a beautiful evening, 
about sundown, Billingsley and the young girl walked out in 
the prairie which lay to the north and west of the residence 
of Mr. Lacey, with the Colorado a short distance back from 
the house. It was a balmy spring evening, and the air was 
redolent with the perfume of flowers. It was just such an 
evening as is calculated to bring a holy peace and content- 
ment to the soul, and as the two stopped and watched a herd 
of deer feeding a short distance off, Billingsley took the hand 
of the young girl and told her of the fight, and with quiver- 
ing lips related to her the last charge, when, as the two young 
men were riding by his side, he saw Rudolph fall from his 
horse that went galloping across the field riderless, and then 
of the wound he had received that had so overcome him that 
he was compelled to dismount and lie down. As Billingsley 
with a faltering voice related the sad intelligence of the death 
of Rudolph to his companion, she laid her head on his shoul- 
der and wept bitterly. He tried to console her, but on occa- 
sions of this kind, as David said, as he bent over the remains 
of Absalom, the “ poor, common words of courtesy are such 
a very mockery.” At these times how much the bursting 
heart may pour itself in prayer. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


199 


Releasing herself from her companion, who walked a short 
distance off, she knelt among the May flowers that were lift- 
ing their heads to catch the evening dew, and her prayer, like 
holy incense from a thousand blossoms, went up to the divine 
throne of grace for strength to bear up under the many afflic- 
tions that had beset her pathway in life. As the shadows of 
the evening began to surround them, she arose and joined 
her companion, and they silently wended their way back to 
the house. Leaving her at the door, she went into the room, 
and Donnorega followed her. 

Two days afterward, at evening, the Rangers under the 
command of Captain Rutherford went into camp on the 
banks of the Colorado, a short distance below the residence 
of Mr. Lacey. That night Rutherford and Roderick Tra- 
vino spent with their friends. Rutherford was charmed with 
the quiet dignity and grace of Isabella. They had so much 
to talk about and so much to tell each other that it was past 
midnight before they retired. 

Rutherford, from a conversation with Billingsley in regard 
to the history of his family, felt sure that Lucy Ashton was 
his sister, but he did not even mention the young girl to him, 
wishing to see if they would recognize each other when they 
met. He was now anxious to see his wife, and the next morn- 
ing the soldiers assembled in front of the residence prepared 
to go forward. Isabella and Donnorega accompanied them 
on horseback. 

The residence of Mr. Ashwood was about seventy-five 
miles up the Colorado. That day they rode forty miles. 
During the greater part of the time they were out of sight 


200 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


of the river, but as night grew apace they turned to the right 
and went into camp on its banks. Half a mile above them 
were the cabins of some settlers. Accompanied by Ruther- 
ford and Billingsley, the two women were secured lodgings 
for the night. Tired and overcome by the day’s ride, Isa- 
bella and her nurse retired at once, as it was necessary for 
them to make an early start to arrive at their destination the 
next night. 

Rutherford slept but little that night, and the next morning 
at sunrise the bugle sounded, and the men mounted their 
horses, and late that evening went into camp near the resi- 
dence of Mr. Ashwood. 

Accompanied by Isabella and her nurse, Rutherford rode 
on to the house. On their way they were met by his wife 
and Lucy Ashton, who came out to meet them. Kate Ruth- 
erford seemed almost frantic with joy at the meeting, and for 
several moments she clung to the neck of her husband with- 
out so much as uttering a word. She had parted from him 
only a short time previous ; but he had gone to engage in one 
of the most desperate fights that had ever occurred in the West, 
and she was apprehensive that she might never meet with 
him again in this life. Now that the enemy had been com- 
pletely routed, and he had come to her without so much as a 
scratch upon his person, and after leading his men so gal- 
lantly in the fight, it was not surprising that she should have 
wept with very joy. Isabella and Donnorega were warmly 
welcomed by Kate Rutherford and Lucy Ashton, and together 
they returned to the residence of Mr. Ashwood. There they 
were met by Mr. Ashwood and his family, and Rutherford 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


201 


was almost as warmly received by them as he was by his 
wife. 

The next morning Lieutenant Billingsley and Roderick 
Travino rode up to the house. The entire household had 
gathered in the gallery, as the two men hitched their horses 
and walked toward them. Lucy Ashton was standing by 
Isabella, as Lieutenant Billingsley drew near. When close 
to the gallery he stopped and looked up. In the mean time 
Isabella had moved toward the steps, when with a wild scream 
Lucy Ashton rushed past her, and, throwing her arms around 
the neck of Billingsley, cried out, “ My brother !” and fell 
fainting in his arms. 

Perfectly bewildered, Lieutenant Billingsley looked down 
upon the young girl, and recognizing his sister, kissed her. 
Kneeling in the grass he held her in his arms. It was some 
moments before she recovered. As she slowly became con- 
scious, she threw her arms around her brother’s neck and held 
him closer in her embrace. Those present looked on with 
astonishment at the meeting of the brother and sister so unex- 
pectedly, and the women wept. Isabella stood by, and her 
tender, woman’s nature seemed perfectly overcome at the 
inexpressible joy manifested by the brother and sister, who 
seemed as if they could not be separated from each other. 

That evening Rutherford informed Billingsley of his uncle’s 
perfidy, the arrest, trial, conviction of his sister, and of the 
scene in the court-room at Lexington. Billingsley listened at 
this portion of the story with the greatest indignation expressed 
upon his countenance. When Rutherford informed him of 
the necessity of arresting old man Ashton to relieve his sister, 


202 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


and how they had found him in the cave engaged in engrav- 
ing a die, and the grief expressed by the old man at his arrest, 
a kind of sympathetic feeling seemed aroused in the heart of 
Billingsley. When Rutherford concluded, giving him a history 
of the trial, and his conviction and his subsequent death in 
prison with a broken heart, he turned aside and said, “ Poor 
old man! thou hast truly suffered for thy many misdeeds, 
and I hope God has pardoned thee, as I now freely forgive 
thee for the great wrong thou didst my sister.” 

Rutherford informed Billingsley that his sister had not been 
told of the fate of the old man, and they determined that she 
should never know his tragic ending. 

Billingsley, whose own life had been not without reproach, 
now felt that in the future no stain should blot his name. Secure 
in the love of Isabella and his sister, he had much to live for. 
Life was not to him the dreary waste that it had been, when 
he turned from his old Kentucky home and went forth a wan- 
derer on the face of the earth, with none to love or care for him. 
Now he could look beyond the horizon of to-day, and see in 
the future the bow of promise. As the tourist, standing among 
the glaciers of the Alps and amid unmelting snows, where 
no flower ever blooms, but where the northern blast holds 
all nature ice-bound, can look beyond to the Italian shores, 
where perpetual spring abides and the soft southern sun brings 
to life all the beauties of animated nature, so the soul of 
Billingsley, tempest tossed and swept over a boisterous sea 
without guide or compass, and with no haven of rest in sight, 
had at last drifted into a serene repose and found a quiet and 
contentment that should remain unbroken and uninterrupted. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 203 

• 

Rutherford with his command remained only two days at 
the home of Mr. Ashwood. It was not yet known what rein- 
forcements might come forward to swell the decimated ranks 
of the enemy, now scattered and without a leader ; and too 
much had been gained to risk the happy results of the victory 
achieved by indifference and a want of proper caution on the 
part of those who had been the instruments in checking the 
invader and hurling him back discomfited and in the most 
dire confusion. The happy results of the victory were yet to 
be made known. The enemy might be reinforced, and again 
turn upon the feeble and battle-scarred Texans and overwhelm 
them. With this uncertainty as to the condition of affairs, 
Rutherford and his command were not the men to rest su- 
pinely on their arms when the fate of the nation was yet 
undecided. 

Billingsley’s wound was yet unhealed, and it was necessary 
for him to remain at the residence of Mr. Ashwood, while the 
Rangers with their leader at their head should go forward, 
and with other troops attempt to check an advance of the 
enemy should one be made. 

Roderick Travino, tall and graceful, with just enough Cas- 
talian blood in his veins to give to his complexion that rich 
olive cast that in a girl would be pronounced a brunette, was 
almost as much attached to Billingsley as his niece, and it was 
with regret that he should be separated from him, even for a 
short time. But he was a soldier, and had cast his lot with 
the sons of Texas, and not even his love for Isabella or his 
great friendship for Billingsley could induce him to swerve 
from his duty. 


204 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


During the two days he remained at Mr. Ashwood’s he was 
often in the company of Lucy Billingsley, and the two young 
people had formed quite a friendship for each other. 

As he rode with Captain Rutherford at the head of the 
command, his thoughts rested almost continually upon the 
events of the last few days. The death of his brother had 
affected him a great deal. So young and so full of youthful 
manhood, strong and brave an i self-reliant, and eager to help 
those upon whose neck the foot of the invader was pressing 
to the very earth, it was a sad spectacle to his brother and 
friends to see him sacrificed upon the very day of the natal 
independence of his country, when the whole world looked 
on with wonder at the unequal struggle and the well won 
victory. 

After the soldiers left, Billingsley spent the greater portion 
of his time with his sister and Isabella. The two girls became 
inseparable companions; Kate Rutherford and Donnorega 
looked on with fond devotion at the development of that 
love which bound together these two young girls with more 
than a sisterly affection. 

Like the tendrils of the vine, as they lift their heads from 
the earth and reach forth for something to cling to, and rest- 
ing their tender spiral forms against the young and vigorous 
tree, begin to wind themselves around the body, taking a 
firmer hold, until they are inseparable, so these two girls, 
resting in the love of the young soldier, center all the ten- 
drils of a deep and abiding love upon him, the one a part of 
his being, and the other to unite a life with his that only 
eternity itself should blot out or efface. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


205 


CHAPTER XXI. 

For two weeks Rutherford and his men scoured the country 
along the Rio Grande without discovering any advance of the 
enemy. One evening they wound along the valley in sight of 
the Mexican village, the home of Roderick Travino. It was 
the latter part of May, and the prairies were covered with 
flowers. To the left, and beyond the river, the hills were 
fringed with a deep green foliage and bathed in a flood of 
evening sunlight, while the little village that nestled on the 
mountain-side presented a picture of quiet and repose that 
was little in unison with the almost bursting heart of Roderick 
Travino, as he looked upon the home of his father now made 
desolate by the events of the last few weeks. The graves on 
the hill-side were too fresh, and the wounds in his heart too 
deeply cut for him to look upon the quiet spot without hav- 
ing his soul stirred with the deepest emotions. 

That evening the soldiers spread their blankets on the car- 
peted grass near the cascade. Rutherford and Roderick 
spent the night at the hacienda. Rutherford slept in a room 
looking toward the prairies. Roderick occupied the recep- 
tion-room of Isabella, a roqm that had been closed since its 
fair occupant had left it with instructions given that no one 
should cross its sacred portals. The room had remained just 
as it had been left. Above the table, on which stood a lamp, 
the portrait of the Blessed Virgin still hung, but the image of 
the Son hanging in great agony upon the cross, and before 


206 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


which the young girl, morning, noon, and night, bowed with 
tearful eyes and repeated her “ Pater noster ,” was not there. 
That night, far away from the scenes of her childhood, but 
with those she loved most on earth, the same knee bowed be- 
fore that blessed image, and offered up her devotions, and 
asked a blessing upon him who in the silence of the night 
stood before the Blessed Virgin, and making the sign of the 
cross, bent the knee in that private auditorium so many weary 
miles to the west of her. 

Rutherford could not sleep, and, rising from his bed, he 
walked to the window and looked out upon the prairies. The 
moon was in her full, and cast a flood of light over the entire 
landscape. As he stood looking out upon this wild western 
scene, he saw a dark line advancing toward the mountain. 
It came as a cloud moving rapidly athwart the western sky, 
obscuring the moonlight and trailing darkness like a shroud 
behind it. On it came, and the mountain seemed to shake at 
its approach. Rutherford listened at the roaring sound, and 
gazed with awe upon the dark advancing line. Far away 
upon the prairie a sheet of flame, like the fierce wrath of 
the lightning’s flash upon the bosom of an angry cloud, for 
a moment lighted up the dark upheaving mass as it rushed 
onward, and then came the echo of more than fifty rifles 
drowning the heavy sound of the advancing column. 

With a heart beating rapidly Rutherford turned toward the 
door, thinking it an attack upon his men, and was met by 
Roderick, who had heard the heavy tramp and had come to 
inform him that it was a herd of buffalo moving rapidly across 
the prairie. The report of the guns heard were from the 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 207 

Rangers, who had deployed to get a shot at the herd as they 
passed. 

The next morning the soldiers and the entire village had 
buffalo steak for breakfast. 

For some moments the two men stood and looked out upon 
the moonlight scene, when Roderick requested Rutherford to 
accompany him to the room he had just left. After the two 
men had entered, the door was closed and bolted. Turning 
to Rutherford, Roderick said, “ You are now in a room that 
has always been held sacred from every one except those who 
have been intimately connected with our family. Only twice 
during the long stay of Billingsley with us, and as attached as 
we were to him, was he ever invited into this room. It has 
always been considered by the family as the ‘ sanctum sanc- 
torum] and the inner chamber of King Solomon’s Temple 
was never guarded from intrusion more sacredly than this 
room. It was known as the private reception-room of the 
Donna Isabella. It was here she spent, in company of her 
nurse Donnorega, the quiet spring-time of her life, loved and 
beloved with a devotion that is unspeakable and past finding 
out. 

“As the two brazen pillars that stood the one on the right 
hand and the other on the left of the porch of King Solo- 
mon’s Temple were said to hold the archives and the treas- 
ures of the kingdom, so this room contained a treasure that 
was held beyond all price; and I will now carry you into an 
apartmeht where are stored those earthly treasures that have 
been accumulated by years of labor and privation by those 
who sleep so quietly in the grove back of the hacienda, and 


208 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


for her whom we considered a gem worth all the rest, and for 
whom we all were willing to sacrifice every comfort in this 
life to advance her happiness — the fair Isabella.” 

Taking a lamp from the table, Roderick lifted a door in the 
center of the room covered with a carpet. A rush of cold 
air almost extinguished it. Protecting the blaze by his hand, 
he turned to Rutherford and requested him to follow, and still 
guarding the lamp with his hand, he descended a flight of 
steps some twelve or fifteen feet deep. At the bottom of the 
steps they came into a passage which seemed gradually to 
slope downward. Passing on for some distance, they entered 
another avenue to the right, and Roderick stopped. “This 
cave” he said, “ winds around the mountain and finds an exit 
at the cascade. It was in this cave that you were found 
by Isabella’s father on the evening that you had the fight with 
the Comanche Indians. A short distance from here the cave 
winds near the surface, and it was at that point the earth 
gave way and precipitated you into it. The opening was 
afterward closed up. This portion of the cave was only 
known to the family. The lamb that slept so quietly and 
peacefully in the apartment above was guarded by the lion 
at its extreme entrance. The father of Isabella stood near 
you on the mountain side when you fell into the cave. Know- 
ing the tortuous windings, he hastened to the entrance and 
found you as you lay stunned and bleeding from your fall, and 
took care of you.” 

For some moments the two men stood in silence as Rod- 
erick concluded his rather singular description of their sur- 
roundings. Moving forward a short distance they came to 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


209 


another avenue leading to the right, which they entered. At 
the extreme end of this avenue the two men halted, when 
Roderick pushed against what Rutherford had supposed a 
solid wall. At first there seemed to be a slight fissure in the 
rock, which gradually opened as Roderick continued to push 
against it. An opening about the size of a small door seemed 
cut in a solid granite wall. Taking up his lamp, the two men 
entered a vault about ten feet square. In this room was a 
large iron box with a heavy iron chain extending over it, 
with either end fastened to the floor, and in the center a curi- 
ously made lock uniting the two pieces. Taking the key 
from his side, he unlocked the chain, and threw either end 
back on the floor, which fell with a grating sound upon the ear 
of Rutherford. In the box was a number of bags filled with 
coin, and a small box which almost dazzled the eyes of the 
two men as Roderick opened it. It contained a number of 
elegant diamonds, some beautifully set in rings, and a large 
brooch, representing a vine clinging to a fallen oak, and hand- 
somely set with these precious gems. Lying loose in the 
bottom of the box were several stones of the finest water. 
“ These gems,” Roderick said to his friend, “are treasures won 
by years of hard labor and unremitting toil by Isabella’s father, 
and after the death of his wife, my only sister, were con- 
signed to my father’s keeping for her. I have brought you 
here to-night,” he continued, “ to aid me in removing this small 
treasure, the only inheritance that is left Isabella and myself. 
All other things,” he said, “that we possess, this hacienda and 
its groves, and our interest in this beautiful little village, will 
have to be left behind us. It would be impossible, after join- 


210 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


ing our fortunes with the gallant sons of Texas, ever to reside 
again in this mountain village. To-morrow I shall, perhaps, 
forever bid adieu to all these surroundings. But I shall go 
away with a consciousness of having joined my fortunes 
with a people whom I shall ever love, and with whose, 
fate, whether for weal or woe, I shall ever submit myself.” 
Removing the contents of the box, the two men retraced 
their steps to the reception-room, and the door was forever 
closed to the last male descendant of Emanuel Travino. 

The next morning Roderick Travino stood among those 
whom he had known the greater part of his life. A crowd 
of men, women, and children had gathered in the plaza to 
bid adieu to one of their number who was to join his fortunes 
with another people. In going hence, there was not in all 
that throng of villagers a heart that did not feel sad over the 
separation. Standing on a bench, as the crowd surrounded 
him, with head uncovered, he spoke kindly words to them, 
and said that wherever his footsteps might lead, and in 
whatever country the sun that now shown on them might 
cast its shadow from him, the tenderest recollections of those 
that now surrounded him would fill his heart and elicit a 
fervent prayer for their happiness. Dismounting from the 
bench, he stood with quivering lips as he grasped the hands 
of those whom perhaps he would never see again in his life. 
The soldiers, mounted on their horses, looked on silently at 
the parting scene of one of their number with his friends. 
After bidding adieu to all, he advanced toward his horse, and 
mounting him, the bugle sounded, and the Rangers for the 
last time moved down the road to the prairie. 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


2 I I 


Lieutenant Billingsley, feeling that the independence of 
Texas had been secured, resigned his position as an officer of 
the Texas Rangers, and remained quietly for three months 
at the residence of Mr. Ashwood. 

Roderick Travino, having received an indefinite furlough a 
short time after their return from the Rio Grande, built a small 
house in the village near by, and with Isabella and Donnorega 
moved thither. Billingsley and his sister were the frequent 
guests of Isabella. 

Attracted by the queenly beauty of Lucy Billingsley, it 
soon became evident to those who were mostly interested in 
the young couple, that a deep and abiding attachment was 
springing up between Roderick and the young girl. 

One evening, as Billingsley and Isabella stood at the gate 
watching Roderick and Lucy riding through the village toward 
the house, she turned to him and said that she was under 
the impression that her uncle and his sister were deeply in 
love with each other. 

That evening, as the two rode away from the residence 
of Mr. Ashwood, where they had accompanied Kate Ruther- 
ford after a pleasant stay of several days with them at their 
village home, Roderick told her of the increased attachment 
he had long felt for her. She listened in silence to the 
announcement. It was but too evident to her own mind and 
heart that she felt a deep and fervent love for the young sol- 
dier, but rather repressed the feeling, not knowing that a 
stronger love had been kindled in his own heart. 

Just before they entered the village, he turned to her and 
asked if he might hope that this attachment was reciprocated, 


212 


BOB RUTHERFORD AND HIS WIFE. 


and that she would consent to unite her life and happiness 
with his. 

“ I will be your Ruth,” she said, bending her eyes to the 
ground, and seemingly unconscious that Isabella and her 
brother stood at the gate looking at them as they rode up. 

Six months have passed since the battle of San Jacinto was 
fought. Captain Rutherford, who had aided the Texans in 
their struggle for liberty, had determined to enlist under an- 
other banner. Profoundly grateful to God for the many bless- 
ings bestowed upon him, and with his heart full of love toward 
his fellow men, he determined to go forth, preaching the un- 
searchable riches of Christ and the glories of his kingdom. 

One beautiful day in October, when the autumn sun cast 
a golden glory over the landscape, and all nature around 
was hushed into blissful repose, there was a quiet wedding at 
the residence of Mr. Ashwood. Roderick Travino and Lucy 
Billingsley and Frank Billingsley and Isabella Alvarez were 
united in the holy bands of matrimony. The ceremony 
uniting these loving hearts was most impressively performed, 
in the presence of a number of their friends, by the Rev. 
Robert Rutherford. 

Soon after their marriage Billingsley and Travino went into 
the mercantile business, and became successful merchants. 

Rutherford, accompanied by his devoted wife, who had 
aided in planting the seeds of a new life in the breast of her 
husband, went forth preaching the gospel to dying men, and 
by their own beautiful lives exemplified the teachings of their 
Divine Master. 


THE END. 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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